tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596Sat, 09 Mar 2019 13:01:59 +0000film reviewfeatureshorrorclassic musingsblogthrillercurrent newsbatmanfantasymysteryanimationrevengescience-fictionstreamfocusundermarked oversightmartial artssuperheromovies i lovescience fictionactionarthousechinese cinemachristopher nolancomedycomic book movieforeignguy pearceromancesaoirse ronansuspenseblu-raycoming of agefound footagetop horror moviesKorean cinemaalienscrimedcdramaespionagejennifer lawrencesupernatural horrorabuseblair witch projectcharlize theronchristian balecriterion collectiondcaudvdtalkgangsterghost storykoreanmagicmarvelnicole kidmanshakespearespyvampireswesternwitchesapocalypsecinematographydaniel craigfablefrenchgame of thronesgone girlharley quinnhistoricalhugh jackmaninceptionindependent filmindiejake gyllenhaaljames bondjapanesejulianne moorekoreamarion cotillardoldboypark chan-wookreligionrichard linklaterroman polanskiryan reynoldssatiresilent hillsouth 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SimmondsScandinavian historySofia Black-D'EliaTina feyZhong Kuia chinese odysseya hard daya midsummer night's dreama picture is worth a thousand wordsa royal affaira thousand kisses deepa touch of zenaaron pedersenabcabductionabigail breslinabigail spencerabout timeabsolutely anythingacademy awardsaccusationadam jonesadam wingardadaptationaddams familyadele exarchopoulosadhdafricaagnes brucknerairplaneakira kurosawaakumaal pacinoalaaladdinalan moorealan rickmanalex kurtzmanalexandre ajaalexis bledelalfred hitchcockalfred molinaali larteraliasalice through the looking glassaliemnalmodovaralohaalternate realitiesamanda bynesamanda seyfriedamanda walleramber heardamerican horror storyamerican hustleamerican psychoamishamr wakedamy ackeramy poehleramy smartana de armasanaleigh tiptonanalysisand soon the darknessandrea arnoldandrea riseboroughandrew lauandrew trauckiandy lauang leeangela lansburyangelina jokieangry wivesanimal kingdomanimatedanimatronicsanna paquinanna torvannette beninganomalisaantboyanthologyanthony perkinsanthropomorphic animalsantoine fuquaanton corbijnantony starranxietyapartmentapartment 143apocalypticapple of edenaquamanarcheryargoargumentarie posenarmie hammerarn knight templararnold schwarzeneggerart parkinsonarthur c. clarkearthur millerartistryashley bensonasianasian horrorasimovassassin's fistassassinsassault on arkhamaston martinat the gate of the ghostatmosphereatonementaudrey tautouautismautomataavengersavi lewisbabadookbaby driverbabyface killerback to the futurebad bloodbad family moviesbad horrorbad robotbakingbalcony scenebarbara steelebarneybaseballbasil rathbonebasquesbat-familybathhousebatman and harley quinnbatman dead endbatman the animated seriesbatman v superman: dawn of justicebattle of the heartfirebatwomanbaz luhrmannbearbeautybeauty and the beastbedazzledbedevilledbefore sunrisebefore sunsetbehind the maskbel amibeliefben barnesben stillerben-hurbenjamin buttonbest horror moviesbest movies of 2015best movies of 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verbinskigothgothamgotham by gaslightgothic baltimoregovernmentgrace kellygrand canyongraphic novelgravitygreat expectationsgreco romangreecegreek tragedygreen rangergreg kinneargreg mcleangrievinggriff the invisiblegrimmgroupthinkguardiansguardians of the galaxyguest houseguillermo del toroguillero del torogun fugunsgunslingerguy de maupassantguy maddingymhandmaidenhannukahhansel and gretelhaohmaruhappy death day 2uhappy madisonhard boiledhard sci-fiharold ramisharrison fordharrold perrineauharry houdiniharvardharvey keitelhatfieldhawaiihayao miyazakihazmat suitheartbreakheatheath ledgerheavenly swordheist. parentinghello i must be goinghenry selickhenry winklerherhere comes the boomheroheroeshiddenhidden bladehideo nakatahighwayhitchcockhitrecordholidayholidayshollowhome invasionhome sweet hellhomelesshomelessnesshong kong cinemahonorhookhornshorror comedyhostileshouse at the end of the streethouse in the alleyhouse of flying daggershow i met your motherhuang bohugo weavinghula girlshulkhumorhunterhurdhyakkimaruhypnotismi know who killed mei married a witchifciko uwaisil mareimmortalityimogen pootsin a valley of violencein the deepin the realm of the sensesincarnateindentured servantindependentindependent horrorindiaindiana jonesindigenousindigenous peopleindonesiainfectedinfinitely polar bearingmar bergmaninside outintenseintersecting narrativeintimacyinto the forestirelandiron man 3isabelle huppertisao takahatait followsizombiej-horrorj.j. abramsj.m. barriejacinda barrettjack and the cuckoo-clock heartjack hilljack kate lostjack skellingtonjack the ripperjacki weaverjackie chanjaco van dormaeljacob tremblayjacques demyjames bobinjames demonacojames gandolfinijames huntjames purefoyjames wanjames ward byrkitjapanese filmjason batemanjason momoajason stathamjason sudeikisjaume collet-serrajavier bardemjd dillardjean dujardinjeannette wallsjeff bridgesjeff danielsjeff goldblumjeff nicholsjeffrey jonesjem cohenjenna fischerjennifer bealsjennifer garnerjennifer 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thatcherkiss kiss bang bangkiyoshi kurosawaknight and dayknightsknights templarkon-tikikung fukung fu hustlekurosawakurt russellla la landla poison sacha guitrylaborladdalandlady gagalady snowbloodlanguagelaputalara croftlarpinglast knightslaurie metcalflaw enforcementlawyerlayofflazarus effectlearning to drivelebowskilee byung-hunlee tamahorilego batman movieleialeigh whannellleonardo dicaprioles miserablesleslie jonesleste chanlet the right one inlewis carrollliam neesonliberal artslife crisislife of pilight cinemalights outlily collinslincoln lawyerlinda darnelllisteninglittle sisterliv ullmannlocke tom hardyloganlooperlostlost riverlost season fourlove and honorlove partylovecraftlovecraftian horrorlovely boneslovesicklucas tillluis bunuelluke foxluke skywalkerlumberlust cautionlycanthropym night shyamalanm. emmet walshm83machinimamad mad fury roadmadame bovarymademoiselle chambonmaggiemagicianmainemalcolm macdowellmaleficentmalin akermanmamaman downmandy mooremandy moore jena 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pikerose byrnerose mciverrpgrudyard kiplingrufus sewellrushrussell mulchanyryu and kensabansaboteursabressabusacha baron cohensafety not guaranteedsalazar dictatorshipsalma hayeksalmon fishing in the yemensam luisam rileysam rockwellsam worthingtonsamuraisamurai cinemasamurai showdownsamurai trilogysan andreassanda collarasarah snooksatanicsavedsaw Isaw IIsaw IIIsaw trilogyscent of green papayasci fisci-fiscorpion king 4scotlandscott glennse7enseasean beansean byrnesean mahersecret fanseediq baleselma blairserenasergey trofimovserial killerseth greenseth rogensevenseventh sonsexsex and luciasexual assaultsexy evil geniusshadows of the damnedshaky camerashane blackshaolin soccershark attacksharto copleyshaw brotherssherlock holmesshia labeoufshortshort cutsshort term 12shytamalansicarioside effectssienna millersigourney weaversigur rossilatsilent housesimon peggsingle setsingularitysistersskiingskyrimskyscraperslapstickslasherslasher movieslavesleeping beauty dvd reviewsleightsleight of 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internthe invasionthe invitationthe jungle bookthe last jedithe last kissthe last of usthe last standthe little deaththe loftthe long kiss goodnightthe man from nowherethe mandarinthe martianthe mummythe mumythe night beforethe omenthe one i lovethe perks of being a wallflowerthe prestigethe prophetthe purgethe raid 2the raid redemptionthe raventhe revenantthe road withinthe rockthe samaritanthe sessionsthe shallowsthe shape of waterthe shiningthe spectacular nowthe stolenthe sweeneythe takethe taking of deborah loganthe tale of the bamboo cutterthe tale of the princess kaguyathe thievesthe tigerthe time beingthe tree of lifethe umbrellas of cherbourgthe wailingthe walking deadthe waterboythe wavethe wolverinethe woodstheatrethemtheo jamestherapy for a vampirethere be dragonsthese final hoursthis changes everythingthomas haden churchthomas spurlinthorthor heyerdahlthor ragnarokthoroughbredsthousand faces of dunjiathree billboardsthree musketeerstie me up tie me downtim rothtimbertime looptime travel horrortimur bekmambetovtina ivlevto catch a thieftom fordtom hollandtony leungtorture porntotorotourettetraffickingtrailertraintrainertrainstraitortranscendencetrashtreasure islandtreetreestrick r treattrollhuntertruth or daretsunamitullytumbledownturkey hollowtwelve years a slavetwilight sagatwo days one nighttwo-disc reviewtyrone powerunbreakable kimmy schmidtundeadunder the skinundercoverundercover copunderdog storyunderrated gamesunderwaterunemploymentuniversal monstersunknownvalhalla risingvampirevanishing wavesvanuatuvehicleveracruzveronica lakeveronica rothveteransvic + flo saw a bearvice 2015victor webstervictoria abrilvictorian eravideo game moviesvideogame movieviennavietnamvigilantevince vaughnviolet & daisyviperviralvoyeurismvulgarw ghost storieswachowskiswait until darkwalden mediawall-ewar photographywar veteranwarriors of the rainbowwatchmenwaterboardingwatership downweaponized sexwei tangwei te-shengwendigowerwes cravenwes studiwestworldweylandwhale riderwhale sharkwhat ifwhere the wild things arewhimsicalwhiplashwhite housewho framed roger rabbitwho you gonna callwidowwil arnettwildernesswildlifewill smithwillem dafoewilliam shakespearewilliam wylerwinona ryderwire fuwish you were herewitchwitch huntwlizabeth bankswolfwolf creekwolverinewolveswomenwonder wheelwong kar waiwoochiwoodswoody allenwoody harrelsonwoody woodpeckerworkoutwrestlingwriterswuershanwwixavier dolanxbox 360yann gonzalesyear oneyoga hosersyoji yamadayojimboyou and the nightyouthyuen woo pingz for zachariahzach braffzatannazenzhang yimouzoe kazanzoe kravitzzombieszordonzordsThomasSpurlin.comReviews and Reflections from a Cinema Dorkhttp://www.thomasspurlin.com/noreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)Blogger650125http://www.thomasspurlin.comhttp://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/gryffinmaster/admitone.jpg?t=1267086250Cinema Musings -- Film Reviews and Reflections from Thomas SpurlinThomasSpurlinhttps://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-4172785644586486156Fri, 15 Feb 2019 07:57:00 +00002019-02-15T02:57:48.756-05:00babyface killerback to the futurefilm reviewgroundhog dayhappy death dayhappy death day 2uhorrorjessica rothe'Happy Death Day 2U' Explains More Than Scares in 2nd Loop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y66X3edPhKc/XGZucvN5_4I/AAAAAAAAEjs/YJkDCnr5hDEIX2HNe_F4JgvbOwqDQo7_gCLcBGAs/s1600/happy2u.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y66X3edPhKc/XGZucvN5_4I/AAAAAAAAEjs/YJkDCnr5hDEIX2HNe_F4JgvbOwqDQo7_gCLcBGAs/s1600/happy2u.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a></div><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Christopher Landon; <I>Runtime:</i> 100 minutes <BR><B>Grade: C-</b><BR><BR>Less than a year and a half ago, <I>Happy Death Day</i> jolted the Halloween season awake with its unexpectedly entertaining and genuinely suspenseful twist on <I>Groundhog Day</i>, where a sorority girl continuously lives out the same day in which she's stalked and killed by someone wearing a baby mask. The amusement factor runs high due to both the time-based humor and the brutal methods in which she keeps dying at the hand of this Ghostface-inspired predator, yet the ways in which the original ties into her birthday, family, and personal growth also give it a meaningful streak. And like the Bill Murray vehicle that so clearly inspired it, no explanation was given or needed for how she got caught in the time loop; in fact, the seemingly mystical enigmas of her predicament played into the emotional tempo. The sequel, <I>Happy Death Day 2U</i>, doesn't appreciate this: it's a sequel that relies on tearing down mysteries in order to hijack characters and recreate the cyclical suspense, making both lesser films when viewed together. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Fans of <I>Happy Death Day</i> should have fond memories of Phi Vu's character: the bleached-blonde Asian guy whose vulgar statement gets repeated over and over, getting all sorts of reactions and interruptions from Tree (Jessica Rothe), our focal sorority girl, as he stumbles into a shared dorm room. The sequel begins from his perspective as he's awakened while sleeping in his car (which really does look like it smells like Hot Pockets and feet), after which he has an eventful day of accidents, surprises, and the delivery of tough news about his scientific research project. Later, he gets stabbed by someone dressed in a familiar baby mask and black clothes, which leads to him reliving the same day over again. Wandering into his dorm room as Tree and her now-boyfriend-ish Carter (Israel Broussard) are making out, he divulges to them the nature of this weirdness, which naturally puts Tree -- who just recently escaped from her own time loop -- on edge. By helping him and discovering the source of the loops, Tree again gets drawn into a chronological nightmare. <BR><BR>Now, I'm not usually in favor of storytelling elements being chalked up to "magic", but doing so really worked to <I>Happy Death Day</i>'s advantage, even on a deeper, semi-philosophical level. As soon as quantum physics and an experimental reality-warping device enter the picture in <I>Happy Death Day 2U</i>, these facets are systematically stripped away by co-writers Christopher Landon and Scott Lobdell from the universe they've created, in a misguided effort to pull Tree back into the chronological chaos and … <I>heavy sigh</i> … to realistically describe how and why it all happened in the first place. Just on the surface, this frontloads the sequel with passable supporting characters, a messy attempt to set up the notion of multiple universes/dimensions, and, quite frankly, some feeble attempts at mounting suspense around the Babyface Killer's return. In the original, Tree sought out -- by violent trial and error -- the right chain of events that stop her killer, whereas this sequel chases a fix to the scientific cause of it all. Blah. <BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVbCedXTQDo/XGZw6_5Ec5I/AAAAAAAAEj4/uo_Yw4JaSMItLc4wf6Ib9CzBRW3X-2GcACLcBGAs/s1600/happy2u2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVbCedXTQDo/XGZw6_5Ec5I/AAAAAAAAEj4/uo_Yw4JaSMItLc4wf6Ib9CzBRW3X-2GcACLcBGAs/s1600/happy2u2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a></div><BR><BR>There are less complicated, more viscerally suspenseful ways in which Tree could've been forced back into the loop(s) for a sequel, and the sloppiness of how it's established here -- a villainous and fickle dean of students (Steve Zissis) who abruptly endangers the research project; an inconsistent alt-reality version of sorority queen Danielle (Rachel Matthews); lots of monotonous equations -- drain the suspense from <I>Happy Death Day 2U</i>. As soon as Jessica Rothe recaptures the camera's focus, however, it's as if a switch gets flipped that immediately refocuses one's attention back onto the dizzying world extending from the original, with her character bravely charging into obstacles as the weatherworn, charismatic heroine she's become. It's easy to hate on how Tree gets pulled back into this mess, but the vivacity in how Rothe's character mentally and emotionally processes the differences between timelines <I>almost</i> justifies it, even when she goes through with some questionable trial-and-error plans. <BR><BR>Most of the missteps in <I>Happy Death Day 2U</i> boil down to a lack of understanding of how to be a horror movie alongside its other objectives, drawing too much inspiration from <I>Back to the Future</i> -- yes, it's referenced by name -- without remembering to directly unsettle the audience every once in a while. By presenting the idea that Tree could exist in multiple universes, the screenplay also creates the possibility that the killer from the first movie isn't necessarily the killer in the sequel, which does introduce the opportunity for Christopher Landon and Scott Lobdell to create new suspects, fates for the various characters, and a few red herrings. They get so caught up in the "multiverse" and narrowing down these variables that they neglect the buildup of suspense over revealing who's behind the mask this time. While it's a trip to see stuff like Tree lifting middle fingers in a bikini while falling and splatting to her fate, and then promptly getting resurrected, the context lacks suspense and smacks of obligation to repeat strategies that work in the original. <BR><BR>From recognizable camera angles and referential dialogue to the emotional choice at the heart of the story, <I>Happy Death Day 2U</i> can't be accused of avoiding the first film or attempting to stand alone, relishing all the ways it recalls details both large and small from Tree's first encounter with "the loop". It's worth applauding how Landon and Lobdell have written around the character's internal turmoil -- both physical and psychological -- and how that bleeds into this sequel, because the scenario surrounding our heroine certainly wants to rationalize the technobabble used to explain away what was once perceived as a divine occurrence, a la Groundhog Day, in the first film. Much like what happens to Tree throughout this new franchise, however, too much abuse gets unleashed upon the concept for <I>Happy Death Day 2U</i> to remain standing by its end, and it's due to Landon and Lobdell making the fundamental mistake of trying to explain what's best left unexplained.</span>http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2019/02/happy-death-day-2u-explains-more-than.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-5692268931931652729Fri, 15 Feb 2019 07:40:00 +00002019-02-15T03:01:39.978-05:00blood and black laceclassic musingsfilm reviewgiallo italian horrorhorrormario bavaClassic Musings: Blood and Black Lace (1964)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kS6QdCoOge4/XGZsXgbjUdI/AAAAAAAAEjQ/5ThX8BmlTpUe_sRgdv1ncJesgAoguHzWwCLcBGAs/s1600/bloodlace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kS6QdCoOge4/XGZsXgbjUdI/AAAAAAAAEjQ/5ThX8BmlTpUe_sRgdv1ncJesgAoguHzWwCLcBGAs/s1600/bloodlace.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a></div><BR><BR>Mario Bava is a master of extracting substance from within his style, where the moving parts of emotions and motivations oftentimes lead to deeper horror experiences than one might expect. Whether he's lurking in the heavy shadows of black-and-white gothic tales or operating with vivid pools of colored lights from across the spectrum, his direction -- and influence over the camerawork -- conscientiously focuses upon the characters in such a way that even some of the smallest, seemingly inconsequential characters have a little something else going on beneath the surface. In a murder mystery like <I>Blood and Black Lace</i>, this feeds into credible uncertainty as to who's responsible for killings. Taking place mostly within a modeling-slash-burlesque "fashion house", Bava's lavish prismatic shades and sequence of gruesome death take shape as one of the earliest and most influential manifestations of the Italian giallo horror subgenre, clutching firmly onto the traits of those who come in and out of the house for its emphatic whodunit suspense. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Dressed in a jacket, hat, and stretchy face wrap to conceal their identity, someone lurking on the grounds of the fashion house viciously murders one of the many models who resides there. An investigation into the murder begins, and with the inspection into the motivations of those close to the victim also comes the discovery of a wide array of other wrongdoings from the residents, largely contained within a specific diary. While the recently widowed manager of the company, Christina (Eva Bartok), attempts to maintain the status quo and keep the fashion business moving, the location of the diary becomes its own mystery as the killer remains at large, eventually claiming other victims with ties to the fashion house … and to that secret diary. Suspects are narrowed and motivations come and go, but the threat of the killer continues to loom throughout, with many of the personalities that pass through the fashion house becoming more and more distinct. <BR><BR><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HRA1s1PC5ME/XGZsfuZri8I/AAAAAAAAEjU/37sR0xBEWhIeiOO66lVFwDP0fDjlrCkzQCLcBGAs/s1600/bloodlace3.jpg" align=right style=margin:8px/>Immediately, the bright colors and moody shadows of Maria Bava's craftsmanship take control in <I>Blood and Black Lace</i>, almost as if looking at the fashion house through a kaleidoscope while he slyly introduces the actors, all draped in various hues while Ubaldo Terzano's camerawork flows from one to the next. Crimson mannequins with shiny black hair also peek out from the darkness, elevating Bava's setting into something bordering on the surreal as models finalize their garments and bodies are discovered in hiding places. This is a display of artifice, sure, but what's on the surface ties together with the orchestration of the fashion shows themselves, as well as to those who participate in them. Searching for symbolism in every shade of color in <I>Blood and Black Lace</i> may be futile, but it's hard to dispute the calculation involved with how Bava selected the right ones to create specific moods, emboldening his purposeful use of colored lights that seem unnaturally emergent in the house. Things that'd come across as ostentatious elsewhere feel at home and meaningful in this palace of superficiality. <BR><BR> It doesn't take long for <I>Blood and Black Lace</i> to demonstrate that there's more going on here than just a bunch of pretty women being killed off by a random stranger. From the deaths emerge suspicions and gossip, which introduce all sorts of indiscretions committed by both the models and those that manage them, spanning from hedonistic behavior to more serious offenses like secretive abortions and blackmail. That's where the giallo mechanisms kick into gear, in which the ominous killer gets overshadowed by the wide range of people who could feasible lurk under the mask, and the motivations behind their killing. While these characters wouldn't be classified as profound, exactly -- this isn't a rich moral examination or anything -- almost all of them have a compelling underlying layer that hinges on some deeper human flaw, which makes going the guesswork on who's responsible for the murders an interesting experience in observation. The intersection of details going on about who's wrapped up in what drama, and where the tell-all diary might've ended up, continuously raises the tension throughout. <BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b9yYoYqxuyc/XGZstkV_bxI/AAAAAAAAEjc/D4AgNwMW0b0RRLvAR6pzx9PdTYsFp1NIgCLcBGAs/s1600/bloodlace2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b9yYoYqxuyc/XGZstkV_bxI/AAAAAAAAEjc/D4AgNwMW0b0RRLvAR6pzx9PdTYsFp1NIgCLcBGAs/s1600/bloodlace2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a></div><BR><BR>While the likes of <I>Black Christmas</i> and <I>Halloween</i> shaped the slasher-movie framework into the machine for tension that we've come to relish, <I>Blood and Black Lace</i> telegraphs a similarly methodical, thematic sequence of deaths, aptly earning a reputation for being a precursor for conventional bodycount horror. The deaths can be grueling, hinged on the tortures of impalement and scorched flesh, but they're designed less for the suspense of seeing whether someone's going to die and more on expanding the mystery behind who's responsible. Bava skillfully ties together the process of eliminating suspects from a list of possibilities with stylized, unrestrained kills full of the spirit of Italian horror, with set design choices that amplify the mood just enough to draw attention to the intensity of their demise. Attention has also been paid to the manner in which everyone's been killed by the masked murderer, creating a situation where almost anyone -- male or female, strong or borderline weak -- could feasibly be underneath the disguise, motivated by any number of potential revelations about their wrongdoings. <BR><BR>The reveal of who's behind the mask and the reasons for their killing spree isn't terribly surprising in <I>Blood and Black Lace</i>, but that's more of a testament to the foreshadowing and setup devised by Bava and screenwriter Marcello Fondato than an absence of shock value or potency. It could be argued that the framing of certain clues and dialogue early on might've been a little too suggestive for their own good, building to a predictable finish; however, when it comes to the revelations about the victims and how they factor into the masked murderer's reasons for their villainy, these pieces fit together into an outcome that simply <I>make sense</i> in its operatic grandness. While it isn't as gruesome as <I>Black Sunday</i> or as intent on building to visceral scares as <I>Black Sabbath</i></a>, <I>Blood and Black Lace</i> drops into a devious middle-ground between the two while remaining focused on credibility with its murder-mystery rationale, stitching together equal measures of Bava's emphasis on style as substance and straightforward, yet sharply-written pulpy thrills. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73504/blood-and-black-lace-vci-release/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2019/02/classic-musings-blood-and-black-lace.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-1373189947693764921Fri, 15 Feb 2019 07:23:00 +00002019-02-15T02:23:46.775-05:00anna paquinfilm reviewhalloweenhorrorhorror anthologymovies i lovetrick r treatMovies I Love: Trick 'r Treat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8_gxUYiQssc/XGZoUhZMvRI/AAAAAAAAEi0/ikO5zkMaH_0lhhvVy-vhTaX7O7xW3R6MQCLcBGAs/s1600/tricktreat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8_gxUYiQssc/XGZoUhZMvRI/AAAAAAAAEi0/ikO5zkMaH_0lhhvVy-vhTaX7O7xW3R6MQCLcBGAs/s1600/tricktreat.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a></div><BR><BR>Over the course of a decade since its limited theatrical showings and surge of popularity on home video, <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> has developed a reputation for being a quintessential film to watch over Halloween … or Samhain, or All Hallow's Eve; take your pick. It's tough to imagine a film capturing the many facets of the holiday's spirit quite so thoroughly, from the spooked-out observations of kids braving the dangers of the night for their candy to the adults pursuing other kinds of, uh, more mature "treats" while donning their own costumes. Closer in purpose to <I>A Christmas Story</i> than the likes of <I>Halloween</i> or <I>Hocus Pocus</i>, Michael Dougherty's freshman feature ties inextricably to the holiday's customs, atmosphere, urban legends and other moving parts, to such a degree that it makes it difficult to imagine watching <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> at other times of the year. As a mood-setter, you're not likely to find one that's more immersive and character-focused while conjuring the season's spirit; however, when looked at as a straight horror anthology outside the season, it's not exactly the most frightening of the pack. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost><I>Trick 'r Treat</i> spins campfire tales centered on several loosely connected people throughout a small American town on Halloween, one that's decked out for the holiday season and puts on a parade-slash-party in its main downtown area. For the most part, the stories don't intersect with one another until the plot designs for them to do so, which gives the individual portions their own standalone "short story" properties. In some instances, <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> sticks to practical, real world horror impacted by urban legends; in others, the writing delves into the supernatural world of transforming beasts and creatures risen from the dead for the stage that it's setting. A uniting element comes in the presence of a young child wearing a burlap sack and orange jumpsuit who observes many of the activities going on throughout the evening, and it's no surprise that this kid, named "Sam", has become an iconic character among fans of the film, wielding one very dangerous sucker in his own pursuit of tricks and treats. <BR><BR><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rHjcdXT9y4s/XGZogS5JgGI/AAAAAAAAEi4/4P-39yzcjGQpc_EGjk2Q7Ggne5C0ET-hgCLcBGAs/s1600/tricktreat2.jpg" align=left style=margin:8px></a>From tampered-with candy and the ritual of leaving lights on throughout the night to the possibility of real vampires and ghosts lurking underneath the costumes of both youngsters and adults, <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> clearly gets and adores the dark mixture of danger, merriment, and folklore that hallmarks Halloween. The world Michael Dougherty constructed acts like a crossroads between John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper movies: a small-town meeting place where both reality and the supernatural can coexist for an evening, which is pretty much what makes the holiday such a blast. By tilting it toward an R-rating, Dougherty can also spill a bit of blood and let the natural language of teens and young adults flow freely without catering to that broad "family-friendly" audience, arriving at that mildly macabre, vulgar point that's just taboo enough to ward of youngsters but not so gratuitous that older-leaning families can't enjoy the grossness and crassness involved. The atmosphere in <I>Trick 'r Treat</i>, photographed by Glen MacPherson with the orange blow of jack-o-lanterns in mind, feels the way that Halloween should. <BR><BR>Each of the five segments are structured like spooky stories that'd be told over a flashlight or campfire, too. Part of the enjoyment factor with <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> comes in seeing how the tales spring their surprises upon the audience with what true dangers lie underneath whatever story's being told, a dynamic that has both rewarding and adverse effects on the film's general pacing. The anticipation of arriving at each one's climax generates enough grin-inducing suspense to stay wrapped up in what's going on, yet Dougherty's efforts to conceal details and preserve the "scares" for the very end of the episodic tales -- especially in the segment featuring Dylan Baker as a murderous school principal and single father -- results in moody, comical, somewhat macabre leadups that are mostly devoid of genuine shocks. Dougherty has a great time with lightheartedness, double meanings and fakeouts that make this a morbidly satisfying viewing experience, and clever practical and digital effects keep <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> firmly locked into a horror atmosphere … but, up until the endings, they telegraph chills and gross-outs instead of genuine fright. <BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ROYr6ZBgeAU/XGZo1rnOpAI/AAAAAAAAEjE/bwuFbrj3rsEQN1V_MJKlGieHaQ6JWrQ-gCLcBGAs/s1600/tricktreat3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ROYr6ZBgeAU/XGZo1rnOpAI/AAAAAAAAEjE/bwuFbrj3rsEQN1V_MJKlGieHaQ6JWrQ-gCLcBGAs/s1600/tricktreat3.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a></div><BR><BR>Does <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> need to be <I>that</i> scary, though? After all, there's strength in Dougherty's characterization of both the town and its inhabitants; living vicariously through them as they experience the eerie idiosyncrasies of the holiday transforms into its own novel experience, one propelled by the almost comic-book caliber vividness of them all. Through his connection with the filmmakers involved with the <I>X-Men</i> franchise, Dougherty roped in some bigger-than-expected names to embody key characters: Anna Paquin brings her familiarly reserved, yet passionate demeanor to her role as a college-aged virgin hunting for "the one" to get it out of her system; Brian Cox wheezes his way through a depressed, Jack Russell-owning drunkard who torments trick-or-treaters. Most of the child actors do a bang-up job of representing the pranksters, tagalongs, and victims of the evening, all of whom get involved in how the film lashes out, almost in karmic fashion, at those who disrespect the intentions and balance of the holiday. Their reactions to the night's surprises fill the void left by the absence of traditional scares. <BR><BR>While the stories may be separate from one another, the execution of the setting and the transitions between the segments result in <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> having the appearance of a cohesive narrative, which adds impact whenever those stories manage to bump into one another during the evening's activities. Dougherty doesn't try to shoehorn links between them all in some attempt at greater importance, leaving them as tangential connections and novelties that only serve to elevate the impact of Halloween itself, all overseen by the ominous yet nondescript Sam as an avatar and keeper, of sorts. Bits-‘n-pieces of the film could feasibly work outside the confines of the Halloween setting -- notably, the segment featuring the escapades of Anna Paquin's Red Riding Hood-dressed virgin and whom ends up pursuing her -- but so much of <I>Trick 'r Treat</i> relies on inextricable ties to holiday that those who aren't big fans of those specific rituals and customs might not have enough horror substance into which they can sink their teeth. Dougherty lets his ode to Halloween be itself, though, and that's why it's such a treat. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73476/trick-r-treat-collectors-edition/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2019/02/movies-i-love-trick-r-treat.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-4066397604067906685Thu, 15 Nov 2018 23:38:00 +00002018-11-15T18:38:25.234-05:00contemporarycovendakota johnsondancefilm reviewLuca GuadagninomagicremakesuspiriawitchesBold 'Suspiria' Redo Jumps Into Darker, More Twisted Territory<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-niXn6I8I2uM/W-4BsGyP8pI/AAAAAAAAEhA/e52MwgVsPWMCpqWL5jP9u_BVjKIcQakegCLcBGAs/s1600/sus1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-niXn6I8I2uM/W-4BsGyP8pI/AAAAAAAAEhA/e52MwgVsPWMCpqWL5jP9u_BVjKIcQakegCLcBGAs/s1600/sus1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Luca Guadagnino; <I>Runtime:</i> 152 minutes <BR><B>Grade: B+</b><BR><BR>The realm of remaking classic horror films can be an extremely dangerous place, where it's never clear whether a specific film should be respectful to the original and diligent in hitting certain familiar bulletpoints … or whether it should merely borrow the concept and create something entirely new. There's no conventional wisdom to follow there, exactly, but one could argue that those films with more identifiable stamps on them -- be it general aesthetics, notable killers, or unforgettable scenes -- will have a more difficult time in the recreation process than the ones that are iconic for their premise. That's why a wave of apprehension flooded the horror culture upon the reveal that a remake of Dario Argento's <I>Suspiria</i> was in the works, in which the original's visual language and musical tempo not only move in sync with the film's suspense, but often are directly responsible for it. Director Luca Guadagnino clearly grasps the reputation of the original, having crafted his own iteration that pivots on darkness, abstraction, and severity in a potently unsettling collaboration between old and new. <BR><BR> <span id=fullpost>Many of the raw narrative points have been carried over in the screenplay by David Kajganich, transporting the audience to a dance company in Berlin where an American, ex-Mennonite Susie (Dakota Johnson), has arrived for her audition. Interestingly, this version of story also takes place in the mid-‘70s, existing as a period piece that directly mentions the geopolitical turmoil going on at the time, surrounding the German Autumn. As events of the world lure certain dancers away, most stay within the confines of the Markos Dance Company's stony, fortress-like walls, honing their craft as creative instructor Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton) figures out their next production. Other dancers, however, begin to suspect a darker secret lurking inside the company: that the people in charge are a coven of witches, using their powers to pull strings and punish the disobedient. As Susie rises quickly in prominence at Markos, the film centers on how she's impacted by the powers and threats surrounding her, as well as how the disappearances and ailments of dancers gone missing are perceived. <BR><BR>Dancing taps into a profound, almost spiritual or mystical part of many artists, something that even the most technically proficient of performers cannot obtain, no matter how hard they try. That intangible soulful aspect fits well with the manipulations of witches: some dancers may need other-worldly forces to give them that deeper poignant connection to their craft, while others might willingly cut deals if they can get help with overcoming limitations so that their physical capabilities can match their underlying spirits. This <I>Suspiria</i> makes a subtle, yet noteworthy change in the German company's focus, shifting away from the upright poise of ballet to the rougher, subjective and more overtly expressive realm of contemporary dance, and that shift deepens the film's connection to the manipulations of the dancers' minds, bodies, and souls. While you shouldn't go in expecting a ton of dancing, the ways in which it's continuously involved -- almost entirely in rehearsals -- are mesmerizingly tied to the supernatural enigmas of the company itself, blending the realism of a conservatory environment with setting up an ominous horror atmosphere. <BR><BR><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WIm8Jhm3x5A/W-4CNSArksI/AAAAAAAAEhI/wV1RNAcCNCsgwT33DFXgZJOCM7NRwzOVACLcBGAs/s1600/sus2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WIm8Jhm3x5A/W-4CNSArksI/AAAAAAAAEhI/wV1RNAcCNCsgwT33DFXgZJOCM7NRwzOVACLcBGAs/s1600/sus2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>From the early moments when Susie enters the cold, gray space of the studio, it's clear that this <I>Suspiria</i> will be wildly different in visual tone to the vivid drama of Dario Argento. This rendition reaches deep and finds distinctively hypnotic properties that in no way rely on the original's successes, conveyed through the immersive gasps of physical exertion and fluid, yet erratic camera movement that carefully swirls with the dancers one minute and them quickly zooms in on facial features the next. There's a definitive moment when the "horror" kicks into gear where these elements merge together into a fiercely gripping cause-and-effect sequence where the vagueness of the witches' coven taken hold, the shiver-inducing sound design and unflinching cinematography from Sayombhu Mukdeeprom claiming the film's first victim in a room of mirrors. There's a whispery pace leading up to this at the beginning of the film that reveals itself to be a slower-moving spell being cast upon those watching, one that abruptly jerks the audience to attention with the crackle of bones and the spilling of fluid. <BR><BR>Dakota Johnson takes the lead as the protagonist in <I>Suspiria</i>, but calling her a horror-movie victim or prey wouldn't be accurate, and that becomes one of the central mesmerizing deviations in this remake. While this wouldn't be considered much of a character study, there's enough substance in her backstory -- involving her ailing, once-abusive mother and suppressive lifestyle -- as well as in how she adjusts to her new place among the other dancers to embrace her as a dedicated, unpredictable presence. Johnson's history with dance allows her to engage almost all the absorbing choreography (about 10%, the hard stuff, is a double), lending physical legitimacy to what's happening onscreen as her character becomes intoxicated with the recognition and what Madame Blanc and the company can achieve with her as a vessel. This take on <I>Suspiria</i> works on a visceral, oddly sensual level because of the nightmarish persuasion that the witches exert over the dancers: how they mess with the minds of the promising, rob the talents of some, and find ways of discarding the others when they're no longer … uh, useful. <BR><BR><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zPdubqIxbg8/W-4CR0YQfII/AAAAAAAAEhM/HpcLX_ihR38HMAxc1UjyZT4ElZRnkp2-ACLcBGAs/s1600/sus3.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zPdubqIxbg8/W-4CR0YQfII/AAAAAAAAEhM/HpcLX_ihR38HMAxc1UjyZT4ElZRnkp2-ACLcBGAs/s1600/sus3.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Suspiria</i> gets caught up in unleashing those haunting sights and sounds upon the dancers, and while the audiovisual tricks remain a treat to savor throughout, Luca Guadagnino's version struggles with holding onto a steady narrative alongside those sensory provocations. Notably, there's a considerable secondary thread involving a psychiatrist, Klemperer, and his gradual discovery of the witches' coven that feels like a superfluous addendum, born of the desire to reinforce the film's truths and historical thematic interests. There's strength involved with how the doctor -- played by Tilda Swinton hidden under prosthetics -- mines the psychology of the dancers and becomes outside confirmation that things happening inside the dance studio aren't just illusions or delusions. That said, his elderly sleuthing and reflections on the disturbances of his prior life become sluggish, elongated diversions from the spellbinding horror and metaphors within and around the dance company. Despite this subplot being responsible for a cameo from Jessica Harper, the original's wide-eyed heroine, this would've been a more focused piece of work had Klemperer's role been significantly reduced. <BR><BR>Yes, <I>Suspiria</i> reaches a point where it feels dragged out for too long, but the graphic, phantasmagoric endgame makes it worth having patience with Guadagnino's scattershot pursuits of symbolic and historical undertones. Those anticipating a duplication of the original's grand finale should be surprised, as David Kajganich's writing has recontextualized and deepened familiar motifs into an interpretive crimson-hued rush of chaos that conveys points on its own terms, and it's been tough to stop thinking about ‘em since seeing it unfold. The corrosive, deceptive nature of power and control result in this <I>Suspiria</i> discovering a truly distinctive energy far apart from its namesake, showing reverence to the premise while also bringing a contemporary edge to the tone, the horror, and the ideas floating around the dance company. Guadagnino's choice to construct something entirely new atop Dario Argento's foundation has resulted in one of the more uniquely beautiful, flawed yet thought-provoking genre films released this year, joining the annals of remakes that stick their landings with enough panache to coexist with their namesake. <BR><BR><I>Film review also appeared over at DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73454/suspiria/"><B>Click Here</b></a>]</i></span>http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/11/bold-suspiria-redo-jumps-into-darker.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-4862749161905476900Thu, 15 Nov 2018 23:22:00 +00002018-11-15T18:22:48.931-05:00actiondie harddwayne johnsonfilm reviewjohn mclaneskyscraperthe rock'Skyscraper' Tackles High-Rise Action Without a Vengeance<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dplNEGRuwIw/W-3_Fm-tRWI/AAAAAAAAEgs/EzHKUHdhGNwnhoOffGtTd0UjGdIdMnNlQCLcBGAs/s1600/skys1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dplNEGRuwIw/W-3_Fm-tRWI/AAAAAAAAEgs/EzHKUHdhGNwnhoOffGtTd0UjGdIdMnNlQCLcBGAs/s1600/skys1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Rawson Marshall Thurber; <I>Runtime:</i> 102 minutes <BR><B>Grade: C-</b><BR><BR>The maximum capacity for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's presence at the box office may have been reached this year, in which he stars in not one, but two disaster movies that made it to the big screen. One features towering gorillas, wolves, and lizards slamming into and destroying a city's highrise buildings, an adaptation of an ‘80s videogame franchise. The other features … uh, different kinds of monsters who are also out to destroy a high-rise building, and while it may not openly claim as much, it's also essentially an "adaptation" of something popular from the ‘80s. Both really shouldn't be able to be lumped together so easily, yet in <I>Skyscraper</i> there's too little of interest within the crumbling architectural chaos to stand out, resulting in a sufficiently boisterous yet entirely forgettable doppelganger of the action genre that lacks a Rock-solid character foundation. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Ten years before the events in the film, ex-military hostage negotiator Will Sawyer was injured in a complicated scenario, resulting in his leg being amputated and in that side of his career reaching an end. Cut to the present day, where he's found a new path as a security analyst of sorts, and he's landed one of the biggest jobs possible: to analyze and report on the safety protocols of a building in China, The Pearl, that's roughly triple the height of the Empire State Building. This isn't just a building, though, designed to be an all-inclusive ecosystem of sorts that stretches to the clouds, utilizing modern energy methods, sporting inhouse organic growth initiatives, and boasting state-of-the-art issue detection throughout the site. As Sawyer's finishing up the final bits of his presentation, the building falls under attack from those with seemingly little on their minds outside of tearing down it down. With his wife (Neve Campbell) and children trapped inside, Sawyer's knowledge of the building gets called to action in a rescue mission. <BR><BR><I>Skyscraper</i> has no delusions over what it's mimicking, and that can be seen in the measures it takes to diverge from being an unnamed reimagining of <I>Die Hard</i>, as if following a checklist. A famous tower quickly becomes the focal point of the setting, of course, yet its science-fiction addons and geographic location give the writing a slightly more substantive and contemporary agenda, forming the Chinese building into a beacon of clean energy and combating urban sprawl. Sawyer's a capable rule-bender willing to traverse the perils of the building under attack, yet he definitely isn't a divorced police detective estranged from his loved ones, instead the unshakable -- and, admittedly, vanilla -- patriarch of the ideal nuclear family. Some incredibly blunt exposition gets those core points across, combined with extensive and obvious computer-generated effects involved with the building's tech advancements. <I>Skyscraper</i> feels like an expanded, yet toned-down and less-interesting riff from the moment it breaks ground. <BR><BR><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2lhSHqdzMbY/W-3_KWT3ehI/AAAAAAAAEgw/qVmA7Wn8Tyk3cQMYgxs8mlTVdZRpYPnxACLcBGAs/s1600/skys2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2lhSHqdzMbY/W-3_KWT3ehI/AAAAAAAAEgw/qVmA7Wn8Tyk3cQMYgxs8mlTVdZRpYPnxACLcBGAs/s1600/skys2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>The cards are stacked against those who want to criticize Sawyer as the hero of <I>Skyscraper</i>: coupled with Dwayne Johnson's inherently charming, grinning persona, he's portraying a combat veteran who also copes with being an amputee in his everyday life of being an honest contractor and doting father. Thing is, the story relies too heavily on these sterling character traits and not on other potential layers of his personality, letting those base qualities go on autopilot with effortless assurance that those watching will feel obligated to root for him. The Rock tends to be at his best when he's allowed to flex at least a little of that raised-eyebrow, roguishly confident muscle from his pro wrestling days -- something that can be found in <I>San Andreas</i> and <I>Rampage</i>= -- yet there are limitations on Sawyer through his paternal instincts and boy-scout demeanor that inherently put that facet of Johnson's persona on lockdown. Neve Campbell's combat-medic wife is more interesting, humorous, and ultimately underutilized. <BR><BR>Even the most milquetoast of heroes can be elevated by the right kinds of action-movie intensity exploding around them, though, making demands of their physicality and responsiveness … and few settings are as volatile or hazardous as a collapsing, flaming, technologically advanced <I>Skyscraper</i>. This occurs just as the sun begins to set in China during <I>Skyscraper</i>, though, which results in nearly everything taking place in orange-tinged darkness, clunking around in the shadows of an almost-entirely vacant high-rise tower. The "terrorists" overtaking the tower are an immensely forgettable band of gun-toting goons, lacking a compelling face for their operation outside of a few higher-level mercenaries with advanced skills, turning The Pearl -- the building itself -- into the prime force-of-nature villain of the movie by default. Sawyer's handling of explosive and high-wire obstacles breaks little new ground, if any, barely amped up by how the writing handles mandatory obstacles installed throughout The Pearl, as well as one sequence that makes generous usage of the ex-soldier's prosthetic leg. <BR><BR>Due to the nighttime action shrouded in darkness, the villains' shrug-worthy (and entirely familiar) motives, and a determined yet boring hero tearing through it all, <I>Skyscraper</i> struggles to conceal that it's a shallow, over-the-top exploit that's uninterested in taking extra steps to answer "…why?" about many things. From the architectural and technological designs of The Pearl to its haphazard digital security measures and choices made by the bad guys amid their takeover, most of those concerns must default to the explanation that, yes, it's a blockbuster designed for thrills and not to be surveyed too closely. For some things that become integral to the action -- such as the entire reason The Pearl's observation deck can double as a carnival funhouse of mirrors -- that explanation doesn't really cut it. When the cinematic materials are assembled like this, they aren't sturdy or distracting enough to roll with the utter predictability of how things go down in <I>Skyscraper</i>, let alone overlook the pop-culture blueprint followed during its creation.<BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73447/skyscraper/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/11/skyscraper-tackles-high-rise-action.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-5717709793515499118Thu, 15 Nov 2018 23:06:00 +00002018-11-15T18:06:31.187-05:00clancy brownclassic musingsfilm reviewjennifer bealsstingthe bridethe bride of frankensteinClassic Musings: The Bride (1985)<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KiZ8s6aEmv8/W-37cvSwEWI/AAAAAAAAEgM/VUscp3sL6MoekW58T644o9F1oDfWe92ygCLcBGAs/s1600/thebride.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KiZ8s6aEmv8/W-37cvSwEWI/AAAAAAAAEgM/VUscp3sL6MoekW58T644o9F1oDfWe92ygCLcBGAs/s1600/thebride.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>A small, yet important subplot in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein led to the creation of the Bride of Frankenstein, expanding upon the writer's suggestion that the disfigured Monster deserves a mate despite his horrid appearance. Despite the "bride" not fully coming to life in Shelley's original story, she has expanded into an iconic staple of the classic monster-movie subculture due to other adaptations in which her creation was a success, with the 1935 sequel laying the groundwork for how the scenario could've played out. The tale of The Monster's Bride works because of how it feeds off the original creation of Frankenstein's Monster or Creature, though -- how a given version of the creature begins to think about life, passion, and companionship -- and jumping straight into a story focused on her creation lacks that buildup. That may be the bulkiest, most obvious constraint holding back Franc Roddam's <I>The Bride</i>, an ‘80s semi-remake of the original movie, but it's far from the only one. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Pop singer Sting embodies Baron Charles Frankenstein, which by itself is an unusual jumble of words that probably shouldn't be put together. <I>The Bride</i> picks up with this Dr. Frankenstein in the midst of his second experiment in reanimating flesh, as his first hollow-brained creature (Clancy Brown) watches in amazement, until circumstances lead the laboratory to be destroyed. Despite that, Frankenstein's experiment turns out to be another successful resurrection, producing a woman, Eva, without memories of her past life, who'll need to learn how to speak, and who'll be malleable to whatever she's taught about society. After fleeing from the castle, The Monster gets entangled with a traveling dwarf, Rinaldo (David Rappaport) who hopes to reconnect with the carnival atmosphere further down the road. As The Monster -- eventually named Viktor in this rendition -- builds a new relationship and encounters life lessons in his journey away from the lab of his creation, Frankenstein discovers the beauty of the woman he created for his first experiment. <BR><BR><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GAD1eqOEDg0/W-37k2OR5nI/AAAAAAAAEgU/4WmkckdNjgodhgSeDdsYRS6X1fImy382gCLcBGAs/s1600/thebride3.jpg" align=right style=margin:8px>Along with wondering what Franc Roddam was thinking in rolling with the relatively soft-spoken and dapper Sting as Dr. Frankenstein, <I>The Bride</i> poses a lot of questions by dropping in at this specific point in the narrative, mostly about The Monster's mental development and relationship with his creator. Everything comes across like it's following up on how Clancy Brown's rendition of the iconic character was created, yet that's information the audience doesn't have … or, more accurately, that the movie assumes the audience already has based on pop-culture knowledge of Shelley's novel and the ‘30s film. Thing is, Brown's take isn't really like either of those classic iterations, and the direction of the story doesn't feel like a natural extension of either the iconic monster movie or the author's more cerebral telling. The sluggish intelligence and naivete of The Monster are responsible for him sticking to his journey, and not knowing exactly how this version of his brain came to this state weakens the film. <BR><BR>Jennifer Beals provides an even bigger obstacle to <I>The Bride</i> than the creature, though, because she makes for a supremely dull cornerstone for the story's ideas. There's something appealing about Eva's wide-eyed absorption of the world once she awakens and begins her (initially nude) exploration of Frankenstein's castle, unable to properly speak or have a grasp on how to act. As she begins to enunciate her thoughts and feelings, Beals' languid performance marries with some abrupt jumps forward in her character's awareness, resulting in a banal, poorly-committed takedown of gender politics in which her creator's attempts to imbibe her with independence and determination lack genuine characterization. What Dr. Frankenstein expresses about his desires for Eva are compelling -- that he wants her to be just as driven and free to act as men are -- but the execution doesn't back up those pursuits. Despite the gumption and confidence found in her performance in <I>Flashdance</i>, Beals turns into a limp and directionless vessel that feels as if she isn't really learning at all. <BR><BR><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mBam2nOTIPM/W-37zWGPaUI/AAAAAAAAEgc/Pu8rP9z4P4I_dlsfAdnW0H4QxHVQqFB8wCLcBGAs/s1600/thebride2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mBam2nOTIPM/W-37zWGPaUI/AAAAAAAAEgc/Pu8rP9z4P4I_dlsfAdnW0H4QxHVQqFB8wCLcBGAs/s1600/thebride2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>The Bride</i> bounces back-and-forth between the concurrent stories of Eve and The Monster, which only serves to underscore the issues involved with how this version of the narrative handles the minds of Frankenstein's creations. As Eva develops from a groaning mute to a passably cultured lady, The Monster remains at a consistent level of intelligence -- in fact, his awareness comes and goes at the behest of the story. If he needs more foolishness or naivete for something to occur in his travels, the script's control over his lagging monster brain will make that happen, all while Eva hones her speech and skills of observation into a formidable individual. Through this, director Roddam and his screenwriter, The Mummy's Lloyd Fonvielle, attempt to have it both ways: the side of Eva hopes to capture some of Mary Shelley's more intellectual ambitions, while the side of The Monster sticks to the lethargic, brutish monster-movie headspace of the James Whale classics. Without clearer, more credible explanations as to how both can be represented, the legitimacy starts to come apart at the seams. <BR><BR>Sure, maybe I've been spoiled. Showtime's TV series <B>Penny Dreadful</b> recently executed a phenomenal take on the Bride of Frankenstein idea, finding ways of transforming the woman who was created for The Monster into a uniquely intelligent, terrifying character empowered by her existential advantages. <I>The Bride</i> doesn't succeed in any of those areas: there are no scares coming from either of Frankenstein's resurrections, and the progression of events doesn't do any favors for Eva's brainpower as she navigates romance -- a young Cary Elwes complicates matters -- and her creator's oppression. What takes shape can be best described as a sort of gothic, faintly macabre drama above all else, and with Sting's more-bitter-than-mad scientist pulling the strings of later developments, <I>The Bride</i> loses a lot of energy amid a shallow culmination of themes centered on possessiveness and independence. Yes, it needs the world-building of its own telling of Frankenstein's original experiment to help it come alive, but that still wouldn't have kept the execution of what's there from burning out anyway.<BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73441/bride-1985-the/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/11/classic-musings-bride-1985.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-4699273013308060063Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:55:00 +00002018-11-15T17:55:36.739-05:00film reviewhorrorjames demonacothe first purgethe purge'The First Purge' an Unfitting, Heavy-Handed Prequel<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vDCqtGrhR7o/W-33fCO9ApI/AAAAAAAAEf4/tCOcwZRd-iAGbjMI6Q_-ghRGd5NutSA2wCLcBGAs/s1600/first1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vDCqtGrhR7o/W-33fCO9ApI/AAAAAAAAEf4/tCOcwZRd-iAGbjMI6Q_-ghRGd5NutSA2wCLcBGAs/s1600/first1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Gerard McMurray; <I>Runtime:</i> 98 minutes minutes <BR><B>Grade: C-</b><BR><BR>The action-horror films set within James DeMonaco's <I>Purge</i> universe have endured the challenges of powering forward with an outlandish, yet compelling idea against the misgivings of its target audience. Numerous shortcomings led to the unsatisfying, seemingly oblivious execution of the concept with the first, Ethan Hawke-starring <I>The Purge</i>, in which the chaos of a lawless environment -- where illegal activity, including murder, is permitted for 12 hours -- gets confined between the walls of a house-invasion thriller. The aptly-titled <I>Anarchy</i> corrects that error, allowing the gunfire and terror to sprawl across an urban landscape while themes of class warfare and justified vengeance take hold. <I>Election Year</i>a grows exaggerated and sloppy with its messages while setting its sights on political assassinations, but still knows how to generate unpredictable dread once those sirens kick into gear. Now, there's <I>The First Purge</i>, and despite this being a prequel, it acts as an escalation of what prior entries have set out to accomplish, blowing up the franchise's political intentions and submitting dubious cautionary explanations to how America devolved into its purge state. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>In the midst of economic and social turmoil, a new political party ascended to power in the good ole' US of A: the New Founding Fathers of America, or NFFA, a far-right extremist group hinged on totalitarian, police-state authority and abundant religious undertones. <I>The First Purge</i> doesn't really tell the story of their ascent, though, scanning over it to get to the point where the regime has decided to implement an "experiment": to make the boundaries of Staten Island in New York devoid of laws and repercussions -- even if it involves killing another person -- for a period of 12 hours, so that people can release their aggressive tendencies without repercussions. Since this hasn't been established as law yet, and since it only covers an isolated area where people could simply escape from, the NFFA has offered monetary incentives to both those electing to stay and those who wish to participate in the purging itself. Like the other entries, <I>The First Purge</i> follows separate groups of people as they navigate the inaugural "purge" and its moral quandries. <BR><BR>Based on how the previous films worked, it seems as if James DeMonaco understood that any details he provided about how the NFFA ascended to power would be less convincing than the ones in the heads of his audience, so to this point he's mostly left those bits of world-building to the imagination. <I>The First Purge</i> only delves into that halfway, dedicating its energy toward how the regime executed this chosen solution for the first time and avoiding much explanation of the bureaucratic, legal, and humanitarian issues involved with getting this started up … on Staten Island, no less. DeMonaco gets too close to "reality" for comfort, though, as the progression of events leading to this first experiment gets one's mental gears turning to figure out how this semi-realistic state of America -- one coping with record poverty and unemployment -- could logically transition into this breed of elevated-reality, villainous despotism. By evading certain elements and revealing specifics about others, this prequel's coverage of "historical" events in DeMonaco's universe becomes expectedly wishy-washy and unthorough. <BR><BR><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ISJDdLdDAQs/W-33jB7AkQI/AAAAAAAAEf8/jD3pDPVfSMUnbMMPl2w7_ALOvGePMCqgQCLcBGAs/s1600/first2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ISJDdLdDAQs/W-33jB7AkQI/AAAAAAAAEf8/jD3pDPVfSMUnbMMPl2w7_ALOvGePMCqgQCLcBGAs/s1600/first2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>The politics involved with <I>The First Purge</i> are an unpleasant battlezone, immediately and bluntly tapping into the prior films' concentration on class structure, poverty, and the anger that stems from those. DeMonaco and <I>Fruitvale Station</i> director Gerard McMurray go for the throat with the film's themes, to such a degree that it makes even <I>Election Year</I> seem (comparatively) restrained in what it sets out to do. Racial overtones twist together with reflections on modern-day concerns about how escalated violence and prejudice have become tolerated, but there's little nuance in how those points are handled -- or in who they're targeting -- and a discernible agenda drives everything forward while haphazardly coupling with the film's admissions about how people were paid to engage in the experiment. The commentary comes in broad strokes, and it forms into a daring, well-intended, yet divisive and lopsided takedown of what real-world forces could set "the purge" in motion. <BR><BR><I>The First Purge</i> still arrives at that feeling of anticipation once the red warning screen pops up on televisions and that deep, billowing siren starts to go off, triggering the end of civility and the beginning of unpredictable mayhem. There's an added layer of expectation in this prequel, though, involving the uncertainty of how quickly the lawlessness will escalate and how profound the bloodshed will be in this trial run. That should add a more human angle to how the dangers progress throughout the purge, yet the interventions of the NFFA -- including countless surveillance drones with guns mounted on ‘em -- and a drug lord's mindless threat management on that night produces forced shock-value theatrics, which undercut the relative authenticity of everything that's going on. Naturally, what happens on the streets of Staten Island isn't as gory or shocking as the carnage in the previous films where the annual purge has become a custom, but pointy-hooded mobs cruising in trucks and a scarred-up drug addict sporting claws made of syringes do capture a similar amount of bedlam. <BR><BR>A lot of confidence gets placed in the power of the messages being communicated in <I>The First Purge</i>, in hopes that the significance of what's being expressed will convey enough about the ugliness of authority figures -- and racial division -- to create its own unique brand of terror that'll carry it until the credits roll. As a prequel to over a decade (maybe two?) of annual purges, however, these overtures of heroism and resistance are diminished when considering what's to come in the dystopian future that DeMonaco's previous installments have already brought to the screen, which doesn't do any favors to the transformation of a well-known, murderous drug dealer into an almost John McClane-esque savior. Y'Lan Noel is a badass as the dealer, Dmitri, and his soldierly poise as he grabs assault weapons and enters towers to defend the innocent gets one's juices flowing in a grindhouse-action sort of way, but he's fighting against more than an army of militarized purgers at this point: his heroic turn is also fighting against numerous lapses in logic that kept him in a position to become Staten Island's knight in shining armor. After the dust settles around him, this depiction of <I>The First Purge</i> has done more harm to the setting than it helped. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73386/first-purge-the/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/11/the-first-purge-unfitting-heavy-handed.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-1732339913893481634Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:36:00 +00002018-11-15T17:38:27.665-05:002017film reviewhorrorjumanjisupernaturalsyfytruth or dareBetter Off Going With Option C: Skip This Absurd 'Truth or Dare'<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3tNwv9UBgGw/W-30IHYuFpI/AAAAAAAAEfs/phXUq-x6UIgOYcpb8KBR1Jk__zUg2_bTwCLcBGAs/s1600/tord.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3tNwv9UBgGw/W-30IHYuFpI/AAAAAAAAEfs/phXUq-x6UIgOYcpb8KBR1Jk__zUg2_bTwCLcBGAs/s1600/tord.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Nick Simon; <I>Runtime:</i> 90 minutes <BR><B>Grade: D</b><BR><BR>Despite the iffy visual effects and a few larger-than-life performances, I'm a pretty big fan of the movie <I>Jumanji</i>, in which four people are forced to finish a game while every roll of the dice creates real-world, deadly obstacles for them to endure. While designed for children and older audiences, there's a certain caliber of suspense and terror emergent from that concept that works regardless of the intended audience, partly in anticipation of what's to come and partly in how the players adapt to their new challenges. It might be kind of unusual to compare a ‘90s kids adventure film to the likes of bloody, R-rated contemporary film like <I>Truth or Dare</i>, but it's hard to ignore what one gets right and where the other veers off-course. One stays within the boundaries of the rules laid out by its focal game and utilizes those restrictions to focus and elevate the suspense, while the other bends or breaks the rules at the whim of its "gamemaster" and leaves decisions made by the players as either foolish or pointless. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Released in 2017 on the Syfy network, this <I>Truth or Dare</i> isn't to be confused with the Blumhouse film released theatrically the year after, though there's so little differentiation between the two versions of the concept that getting them screwed up probably wouldn't impact someone's screening experience. Both are hinged on an age-old game played by youths, in which someone prompts a selected player with "<I>Truth or Dare</i>?" and the person asked gets to pick their poison, if you will: they either answer a question, often of a personal nature, or do something stupid at the whim of the asker. The kids at the center of this game are playing it a little differently, though, since they're staying overnight on Halloween in an old house with a dark story, and they're answering questions or accepting dares based on a random drawing of slips of paper. Dark forces have replaced their slips of paper with tough questions and violent dares, and they must do the dare before time runs out or "the dare will do them". <BR><BR>Out of the gate, the variation of how the game's played here raises some red flags in <I>Truth or Dare</i>. Instead of a question or command being tailored to an individual, the group relies on randomly drawing them from a pot, which smacks of contrivance when pertinent and personal questions -- "Have you slept with Person X" -- match up with the individual being asked for maximum discomfort. The implementation of this is necessary, of course: if the players were left to their own devices to finish the game, they'd either dish out harmless dares or, more likely, stick entirely to asking safe questions until it was deemed that they were finished with the game. Adding randomness to the equation allows for those other forces to gain control of what's being asked, but the easiness of how the supernatural entity so quickly gains control of the game starts <I>Truth or Dare</i> on an awkward note, one that it never fully recovers from as more gruesome, lethal prompts emerge on the papers … and on walls and windows. <BR><BR>What good are dares, though, if the mystical being making the demands can just change the rules and parameters of what satisfies the dare at its whim? Quickly, this stops being a game of "truth or dare" and transforms into a situation where helpless students are at the mercy of an invisible entity forcing them to do … whatever for its amusement, and the fickleness of its requirements make <I>Truth or Dare</i> seem like the victims have entered a futile death trap with no legitimate avenue to get out of the situation alive. The threat of being killed exists whether they complete the dare or not, either because of the dare itself or whether this nebulous gamemaster decides they haven't fulfilled their side of the bargain and just offs them anyway. A warped mind came up with the challenges posed to the players -- consuming human flesh, surviving electrocution, other nastiness involving bats, blades, and pliers -- but one that's more focused on shock value than paying attention to reasonable human thresholds. <BR><BR> Perhaps the most infuriating thing about <I>Truth or Dare</i> boils down to there being very little fun involved with watching these kids deal with against-the-clock challenges, since the horror sequences are focused on intense grit instead of grindhouse-style humor or overcoming the odds. Especially once the script reveals that there's a thematic purpose behind the kinds of torment inflicted upon each player, everything has been designed to be taken quite seriously, leaning more towards the Saw brand of "existential" torture porn involving shrug-worthy twentysomethings whose fates are difficult to care about. With that understood, the pacing, craftsmanship and committed performances from all involved -- including a solemn cameo from <I>Nightmare on Elm Street</i>'s Heather Langenkamp as a survivor who survived the game -- do credibly express the anguish and nihilistic struggle of getting wrapped up in the game, adding human rawness to the harrowing culmination of questions and commands from the abyss. It's too bad this game's rigged. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73373/truth-or-dare-syfy-2017/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/11/better-off-going-with-option-c-skip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-2804817202923688169Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:29:00 +00002018-11-15T17:29:30.821-05:00anthologyfilm reviehorrormartin freemansupernaturalw ghost stories'Ghost Stories' a Scareless, Scattered Mythbuster Anthology<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b7i5iyItz7A/W-3xz48cXfI/AAAAAAAAEfg/CjBeTdQBT6oftV5fN_vOCOf_USrrRVp0wCLcBGAs/s1600/ghost1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b7i5iyItz7A/W-3xz48cXfI/AAAAAAAAEfg/CjBeTdQBT6oftV5fN_vOCOf_USrrRVp0wCLcBGAs/s1600/ghost1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman; <I>Runtime:</i> 98 minutes <BR><B>Grade: C</b><BR><BR>It's always intriguing to see how filmmakers find new ways to seamlessly tie together individual stories into an anthology, especially in the horror genre. An adjoining story certainly isn't required for this subgenre; the segments found in <I>Three Extremes</i> and <I>Black Sabbath</i> have little to no connective tissue between ‘em, but the overarching mood and craftsmanship makes them potent projects. Seeing how screenwriters concoct framing devices and intersect short stories into a complete picture does add something to the experience, though, and there's no hard-‘n-fast rule about how much or how little seamlessness works best under the circumstances, as it mostly depends on the impact of the segments themselves. The somewhat literally titled <I>Ghost Stories</i> take that seamlessness a step further, to a degree that it nearly camouflages its anthology structure, but that desire for a unified story actually manages to weaken the integrity of the creepy, yet mundane supernatural yarns and what ties ‘em together. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Writer/director Andy Nyman also stars as the lead character, Phillip, a renowned skeptic of the supernatural who specializes in unmasking fraudulent communicators with the deceased. Phillip discovers that one of his idols in the field of debunkers, Charles Cameron, didn't actually die in a car accident many years ago, and he wishes to speak with Phillip. What he learned from the old, reclusive and ailing skeptic is that he now second-guesses his entire body of work, and it's because of a trio of cases he wasn't able to solve that have haunted him for years. Cameron asks Phillip to pursue these three cases and see if he can discover the answers that he wasn't able to find, leading him to conduct interviews with the individuals whom were impacted by inexplicable acts of the supernatural: a night watchman, a teenager, and a financial professional. After they recall their experiences, Phillip must put the pieces together and resolve whether they were hoaxes or genuine displays of the other-worldly. <BR><BR><I>Ghost Stories</i> originated as a theatrical play nearly a decade ago, and while the stage-oriented structure of the production can still be gleaned how things are set up, writer/director Nyman has done a reputable job at camouflaging it with cinematic flow. Even though title cards that point out the beginning of each segment run the risk of undercutting those objectives, the grounded temperament of Phillip's interviews and how his character "progresses" throughout each one give the film enough forward momentum to embrace as a cohesive experience. Andy Nyman's pragmatic, slightly cheeky performance as the skeptical investigator certainly helps: he isn't an ostentatious or righteous truth-seeker, instead just a not-so-likable guy who courteously prods with questions and furls his brow whenever he runs into something unexplainable in the discovery period. Whether he's enough of an anchor to serve as the film's "protagonist" is another matter, as his participation turns from passive decoding of the truth to someone more actively involved. <BR><BR>The conceit itself behind <I>Ghost Stories</i> makes this a strange and questionable piece of horror cinema, though. As Phillip's pursuits carry onward, we're guided into what's supposedly considered the cream of the crop in terms of unsolvable, near-irrefutably supernatural mysteries that couldn't be deciphered by his mentor, the cases that tested his mettle and ultimately came out victorious. In other words, there's a decent amount of "hype" leading into the ghostly tales, but the effectiveness of the stories themselves don't match up to their significance in the film's plot. Loud noises going bump in an abandoned mental asylum, a creepy body that vanishes after getting hit with a car, even a literal ghost under a sheet produce familiar and only mildly successful scares, aided along by the believably frightful performances of those involved; Martin Freeman turns in an especially strong portrayal of a wealthy father-to-be getting spooked out in his empty upscale home. The scares lack impact, and it's largely because none of the scenarios seem any more or less noteworthy or evasive of regular explanations than other cases. <BR><BR>That absence of noteworthiness in the cases themselves is by design, frustrating as that may be, as <I>Ghost Stories</i> follows a path toward a major twist in perception of what Philip has actually been observing and researching in his travels. Andy Nyman unquestionably delivers something that's surreal and unexpected, but it also struggles to come together in a fashion that assures it's necessary to completely undo what the audience thinks happened beforehand. Frankly, it feels like a Shyamalan-like shock just for the sake of being a shock, and the crucial revelation comes close enough to the mechanics of other mindbending thrillers of the past two decades, especially from the mid-2000s, that it arrives as a comatose duplication. Had writer/director Nyman approached <I>Ghost Stories</i> as more of a genuine anthology of scary stories -- making the cases truly distinct instead of deliberately in the realm of being explained away -- then perhaps the nightmarish descent at the end might've held more impact, instead of suffering from identity issues. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73365/ghost-stories/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/11/ghost-stories-scareless-scattered.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-4752334828748647889Sat, 29 Sep 2018 03:15:00 +00002018-11-15T18:25:40.323-05:00aliasdaredevilelektrafilm reviewgangsterjennifer garnerlaw enforcementpeppermintpolice corruptionrenegadevigilanteGarner a Brisk Vigilante In Otherwise Bitter 'Peppermint'<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zvIjbBgi1SI/W67rdc9JcvI/AAAAAAAAEeU/-dqsTtTMUjolQyjSeN04tKTFJnYynZP1gCLcBGAs/s1600/peppermint-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zvIjbBgi1SI/W67rdc9JcvI/AAAAAAAAEeU/-dqsTtTMUjolQyjSeN04tKTFJnYynZP1gCLcBGAs/s1600/peppermint-1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Pierre Morel; <I>Runtime:</i> 101 minutes <BR><B>Grade: C-</b><BR><BR>A little over a decade ago, Jennifer Garner started to make a name for herself as a proficient and convincing action heroine, leaving her mark through both <B>Alias</b> and as the character Elektra in the <I>Daredevil</i> universe. Despite her physicality and fierce dedication to the roles, however, the stories surrounding who she portrayed continuously did a disservice to her ability to command the screen, notably the standalone film for her Marvel character and the stretch of time after her espionage TV series jumped the shark. Over a decade later, with very little other action under her belt, Garner has tossed herself into the fray with <I>Peppermint</i>: a revenge-driven thriller with its sights on the intense, somewhat realistic combat that has grown to prominence over the past couple of years. While Garner once again telegraphs a reputable, badass female renegade, the grim and mindless activities fueling her character and the story's developments once again prevent her from spreading her wings. <BR><BR> <span id=fullpost>Garner plays Riley North, a mother and banking professional whose family -- a husband and daughter -- sits right on the line of being lower class, forcing her to take extra shifts to help pay the bills. While out later at night due to their scheduling conflicts, Riley and her family are victims of a drive-by shooting, one that leaves only Riley alive. After the law fails to put her family's killers into jail, she disappears without a trace … only to covertly reappear half a decade later as a very different sort of woman. Gradually, gang members and judicial officials start to show up dead, which causes investigative gears to start moving in terms of how they're all connected and who could be doing it. Now a trained fighter and marksman, Riley begins to work her way towards those who were responsible for the deaths of her family members, pitting her against both ruthless gangsters and the pursuit of law enforcement that could halt her vigilantism before she's able to follow it through. <BR><BR> There's a large gap of time left mostly unaddressed in <I>Peppermint</i>, the period in which Riley transforms from a noble, durable, but non-combat trained mother to a killing machine who knows the ins-‘n-outs of military grade weaponry, stealth movement, and … well, plenty of comfort in the ways of torture and murder. Leaving how she got to this point open to interpretation may be deliberate, and perhaps injects a little thought-exercise fun into the film for a moment, but it also results in a jarring leap in time to the present and, more importantly, robs Riley North of the opportunity to grow into a compelling, layered outlaw. Did she have certain life experiences in her half-decade of travels that steered her in one philosophical direction or another, and where exactly did she learn everything she knows that transformed her into, for all intents an purposes, an assassin? That's the story I'd like to see about Riley North, and that's what was missing once she begins tearing through her adversaries, in which her rage claims sole responsibility for her motivation and training, leaving it a mystery as to whether -- how -- she had help. <BR><BR> <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ihYhW00O5A/W67t9257mEI/AAAAAAAAEeg/utJmazM41nUofgxtu69jv3fK9uEqxQFFwCLcBGAs/s1600/peppermint-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ihYhW00O5A/W67t9257mEI/AAAAAAAAEeg/utJmazM41nUofgxtu69jv3fK9uEqxQFFwCLcBGAs/s1600/peppermint-2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>Jennifer Garner channels that rage as best as she can into a defining characteristic for Riley North, powering both the intensity of the action and how she navigates the obstacles in <I>Peppermint</i>. Burdened by all the seriousness of the immensely tragic circumstances, Garner's given very little room to expand upon her character's personality beyond her grief. She does find a distinctive no-holds-barred edge in how she threatens her enemies and draws her weapons, though, elevating the quick and punchy action sequences through gang hideouts and other urban mazes, feeling very much like the craftsmanship of the director of <I>District B-13</i> and <I>Taken</i>, Pierre Morel. For the most part, gunshots don't go wasted and hand-to-hand struggles aren't drawn out, teetering closer to a semi-pragmatic depiction of a skilled killer in the vein of John Wick. Once Riley steps into the gang's warzone for the first time, it isn't difficult to surrender to the stylized momentum of the action in <I>Peppermint</i>, driven by nifty military-grade weaponry and the kinetic movement of brash cuts and camera jitters in the vein of Tony Scott's later pieces of work. <BR><BR> <I>Peppermint</i> doesn't know how to utilize the intensity in intelligent ways, though, and problems created by lapses in critical thinking pile up as Riley gets closer to pulling the trigger on her vengeance, with the hope that its gang-killin', gun-totin' power fantasy will provide enough distractions. From the circumstances of the North's family massacre to how Riley gets deprived of justice and eventually disappears, the script operates on maximum shock-value and minimal real-world credibility, content in assuming that the process of watching this woman -- this mother -- exacting brutal revenge on those who killed her family will keep the film on the rails. However, the more badass Riley North appears as she survives unbelievable odds and complex obstacles, the more one begins to question her background -- again, a civilian bank teller just five years back -- and the competency of her foes. There isn't anything compelling about her targets either, nor about the overbearing corruption of LA's police or judicial system, providing a feeble subplot doubling as tepid commentary on the fallibility of law enforcement. <BR><BR> On top of funneling <I>Taken</i>'s Mills and <I>Death Wish</i>'s Kersey into a female vessel, <I>Peppermint</i> aspires to transform Riley into a Batman-like crime fighter looming in the shadows with assault weapons, and the creation of this superhero mythos falls apart without character-driven puzzle pieces holding it together. Part of how she's built into a folk hero stems from one of the film's few novel ideas, and credit where credit's due: instead of the media learning about the vigilantism and reporting on it after the fact, the story actively incorporates public awareness and perception of Riley North's identity, backstory, and motivations for wiping out the bad guys, tapping into both broadcast news and social media responses. There are good intentions behind how <I>Peppermint</i> plays out that make rooting for Garner's heroine really, <I>really</i> easy to do -- to such a degree that sequels were clearly desired -- but that straightforwardness also contributes to it being weighed down as a dull, dimensionless copy of other vigilante films, and another display of the actress' toughness and tenacity that doesn't quite do her justice. <BR><BR><I>Film review also appeared over at DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73345/peppermint/"><B>Click Here</b></a>]</i></span>http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/09/garner-brisk-vigilante-in-otherwise.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-2793358641646046500Sat, 29 Sep 2018 02:52:00 +00002018-09-28T23:08:08.936-04:00cablecomic book moviedeadpooldeadpool 2film reviewjosh brolinmarvelmerc with a mouthmorena baccarinryan reynoldssuperhero movies'Deadpool 2' Not Quite The Electric Boogaloo I Hoped For<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-64mScWwt0Wo/W67lsEHPe0I/AAAAAAAAEd8/RFBS_ygy0jUwfcrjjjvxm2u14g9DMFtjACLcBGAs/s1600/deadpool2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-64mScWwt0Wo/W67lsEHPe0I/AAAAAAAAEd8/RFBS_ygy0jUwfcrjjjvxm2u14g9DMFtjACLcBGAs/s1600/deadpool2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> David Leicht; <I>Runtime:</i> 119 minutes <BR><B>Grade: C+</b><BR><BR>In a climate of movies dominated by the prevalence of Marvel's cinematic universe and the heavy somberness of DC's outings, <I><A href="http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2016/02/reynolds-does-right-by-his-merc-with.html">Deadpool</i></A> ended up being exactly what was needed to take both sides down a few pegs. After vigorous crowd support and the dedicated efforts of Ryan Reynolds to get right what went so wrong with the character's depiction in <I>X-Men Origins: Wolverine</i>, the creative forces came together into what I personally described as a "gleefully violent and blatantly subversive" piece of work, one that relishes how it breaks the fourth wall and deliberately pokes fun at the superhero genre. By getting the character right and living up to audience's expectations -- as well as a gangbusters turnout at the box office -- the bar was set pretty high for whatever would come out of a sequel. In steps <I>Deadpool 2</i>, and while the same sort of descriptions for the initial film also fit its follow-up, it's hard to deny that the forces behind this one got distracted by a desire to one-up what worked previously, cranking up the raucous humor and self-aware lampoons to a point that tries too hard to get its jollies. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Following the craziness of Wade Wilson's transformation into the "Merc With a Mouth" from the first film, <I>Deadpool 2</i> picks up shortly after its happy ending, in which the hero (Ryan Reynolds, duh), whose genetic modifications grant him enhanced physicality and regeneration abilities that keep his cancer at bay, has led him into globe-trotting mercenary work. Battling the evils of the world also comes with personal dangers, of course, bringing tragedy into Wade's life within the first couple of minutes into this sequel. In response, Deadpool dons his costume and pushes the limits of his abilities by becoming self-destructive, but eventually -- with a little help from certain X-friends -- he tries to piece himself back together and refocus on fighting the bad guys again. While getting back to his normal mouthy self and engaging a different sort of mission, he interacts with a fire-wielding teenager named Russell (Julian Dennison), who's angry at the treatment at his mutant orphanage. His fury has such a wide impact that time-traveling strongman Cable (Josh Brolin) zips back to the current era to fix some of the chaos unleashed by Russell. <BR><BR>The stars aligned better than expected with the first <I>Deadpool</i>, which told an emotive story about Wade Wilson's relationship with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) as he made choices about what's worth doing to his body to fix his cancer and keep their love alive. While not original or complex, everything meshed into an amusing, yet uniquely effective superhero origin story with an expressive backbone, something that director David Leitch and his threesome of writers -- including Ryan Reynolds -- attempt to mirror in <I>Deadpool 2</i> with a combo of collateral-damage tragedy and the abuse of a teenage mutant. This time, between how somber motivations are created for Deadpool and Julian Dennison's portrayal of a mistreated teen, the underlying sentiments carry both more intensity and less actual impact than Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's first stab at the character. Admittedly, the endlessly sarcastic Deadpool isn't an easy character to progress since so little about him can be taken seriously, but the inelegance and contrivance involved in this sequel's momentum doesn't help matters. Wade Wilson says it himself: there's lazy writing going on here. <BR><BR><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-20WfEI6e9ZU/W67noOCUsoI/AAAAAAAAEeI/5WfVtm6qJQEP3SBFpWAmBko65hJRubUQwCLcBGAs/s1600/deadpool22.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-20WfEI6e9ZU/W67noOCUsoI/AAAAAAAAEeI/5WfVtm6qJQEP3SBFpWAmBko65hJRubUQwCLcBGAs/s1600/deadpool22.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>What's more dissatisfying about <I>Deadpool 2</i> is the humor, both the caliber and the frequency. As Deadpool becomes self-destructive, turns over a … uh, different leaf, and interacts with fresh allies and villains, the film doesn't have the same availability to focus on building his character's origin and mythos, and that's where much of the effective self-aggrandizing and fourth-wall-breaking jokes stemmed from in the original. Instead, attention falls more on directly poking fun at idiosyncrasies in the story itself, Marvel's cinematic universe -- as well as the DC universe, to lesser degrees -- and stale pop-culture references and exploiting the desire to further as much of its R-rated reputation as possible. With <I>Deadpool</i>, there was balance; with <I>Deadpool 2</i>, the efforts seem persistent and overt. In some ways, this improves as soon as his new superhero buddies get more comfortable around him: Josh Brolin's gruffness as time-slipping cyborg Cable taps into deadpan suppression of Wade's antics, while Zazie Beetz's cheeky vibrancy as the luck-based heroine Domino could possibly fill the space of her own movie. <BR><BR>The facets that worked together so well before don't fit together as seamlessly in <I>Deadpool 2</i>, though, something that can't be easily overlooked with a plot that's both mundane and overly complicated. Director Leitch works from a script that falls victim to many other superhero sequels, one that dramatically escalates the scope and stakes of what's going on, embellished by the time-travel facets introduced by Cable's arrival. There's a lot going on here: physical abuse to mutant children, preventing future deaths by going back in time to kill wrongdoers, establishing a prison (and tech) for criminals who wield powers, and forming a team of heroes not unlike a combo of the X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy. Oddly enough, all that can feel almost like the rough components of what's going on in <I><a href="http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2015/07/singer-returns-to-x-men-in-mature-brisk.html">X-Men: Days of Future Past</i></a>, and that predictable uptick in comic-book scale causes this film to escape the grasp that the screenwriters had on what works with Deadpool. An attempt is made at personal drama with how Deadpool approaches the teenager and how Cable copes with his family's death, but the abuse plotting and the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff ends up too big and brash in comparison to Wade defending his best girl. <BR><BR> A key creative force behind <I><a href="http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2015/03/reeves-ignites-gritty-self-aware.html">John Wick</i></a> and <I><A href="http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2017/11/atomic-blonde-sleek-brisk-stylized.html">Atomic Blonde</i></a>, David Leitch has orchestrated a fine-enough action movie with <I>Deadpool 2</i>, I suppose, but its most proficiently-executed sequences are also tied to some of the story's weaker aspects, such as the early slow-mo tragedy that changes Wade Wilson's life and a certain multiple-hero parachuting descent that's undercut by its absurdity. The uptick in visual effects afforded by a larger budget are off-and-on convincing, so long as it's computer-generated elements that are coming in contact with one another: whenever a digital creation interacts with something practical, such as when an ultra-heavy body collides with a metal obstacle, the impact isn't as convincing as when, say, two ultra-heavy CG bodies are in the midst of a comic-book style brawl. Reynolds' voice meshes well with whomever's in the suit as a continuation of the unconventional hero's crime-fighting chaos, and he gets a few zingers in on Josh Brolin's equally stout Cable. There's a pile of entertainment value here, of course, yet somewhere in the thick of spicy dialogue, minor-league team assembly, and general sequel mannerisms, the Merc With a Mouth seems to have misplaced the exact recipe for the wonderful chimichangas he made two years back. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73341/deadpool-2-theatrical-super-duper-cut/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/09/deadpool-2-not-quite-electric-boogaloo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-9138314288616591719Sat, 29 Sep 2018 01:41:00 +00002018-09-28T23:51:32.405-04:00classic musingsfeaturesfilm reviewhorrorjohn carpenterpsychological horrorsomeone's watching mestalkervoyeurismClassic Musings: Someone's Watching Me! (1978)<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-za7EV_A0W9E/W67XUZ-L-yI/AAAAAAAAEdc/pj7tIN7XwUsDdtbNOVLMEGf4iBbw7eJrACLcBGAs/s1600/swm.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-za7EV_A0W9E/W67XUZ-L-yI/AAAAAAAAEdc/pj7tIN7XwUsDdtbNOVLMEGf4iBbw7eJrACLcBGAs/s1600/swm.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>In 1978, John Carpenter released that little obscure slasher movie ... y'know, <I>Halloween</i>. Often, it takes a little time and exposure for indie-budget horror movies to catch on and develop an audience, but that film frequently credited with popularizing the slasher genre struck a chord almost immediately, sliding into pop culture and putting the director on the map. What those who aren't Carpenter devotees might not know is that he released a made-for-TV film in the same year that went somewhat unnoticed: <I>Someone's Watching Me</i>(!), equal parts psychological thrills and woman-in-distress suspense that also marks the first time he worked with legendary actress Adrienne Barbeau in a significant secondary role, both for its portrayal and its inclusiveness. While there's no escaping either the clear influences, homages, and "borrowings" from other films or the dated tech and dull endpoint to the thrills, Carpenter's execution of TV-safe tension makes it worth keeping an eye on it ‘til the curtains close. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Barbeau doesn't play his heroine here, though, a distinction that instead falls upon cult-film starlet Lauren Hutton to embody Leigh Micheals, a director for live-broadcast television programs. After getting away from a vague toxic relationship, she's moved into a high-rise apartment in Los Angeles and taken a job at a nearby station, wherein she meets both men and women behind the cameras, quickly befriending Sophie (Barbeau) and shrugging off instantaneous male advances. Almost as immediately, Leigh begins to receive anonymous phone calls, typed messages, and wrapped gifts from a mysterious source -- not exactly in a threatening manner, but uncomfortably forward and intrusive in their timing. Gradually, the advances turn more invasive, to a point that suggests she's being closely watched and stalked. Enlisting the help of Sophie and a new potential romantic interest, college professor Paul (David Birney), she attempts to cope with the situation … and then, when things get more dire, tries to discover his identity herself. <BR><BR>At times, it can be problematic to watch thrillers that hinge on the technological limitations of a bygone era, but if the strength of the tension or themes remain strong enough, one can ignore outdated components and get wrapped up in what's going on. When viewed from a contemporary viewpoint, <I>Someone's Watching <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S1lwSO8hC4E/W67Xbj_AfKI/AAAAAAAAEdg/_565LFgfXVIvUN2qf8qS7dogeXrKKeIrgCLcBGAs/s1600/swm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S1lwSO8hC4E/W67Xbj_AfKI/AAAAAAAAEdg/_565LFgfXVIvUN2qf8qS7dogeXrKKeIrgCLcBGAs/s1600/swm2.jpg" align=right style=margin:8px/></a>Me</i> hasn't aged well: there are repeated calls between landlines that can't be identified, snail-mail scams that'd mostly filter into "junk" email folders nowadays, and other elements that reduce it to a relic from another time. An absence of originality doesn't help, either, as Carpenter cobbles together Hitchcockian characteristics and tension -- most notably, the voyeuristic focus of <I>Rear Window</i> -- with the phone harassment parts of <I>Black Christmas</i> and surveillance paranoia in the vein of <I>The Conversation</i>. With all that distilled into a single production, <I>Someone's Watching Me</i> comes across as limiting and derivative, a made-for-TV patchwork of ideas that have worked on the big screen. <BR><BR>What keeps <I>Someone's Watching Me</i> from remaining entirely in the shadows of obscurity -- well, besides that it's an early film of John Carpenter -- comes in the fact that it doesn't treat Leigh as if she's a hapless victim, emphasizing her shrewdness and resilience from the beginning. Granted, you've got to get past some early gullibility on her part and an awkward joke she tells about her fear of being raped by dwarfs, but once those hurdles are crossed, she becomes a reputable example of a woman who won't allow herself to be objectified or harassed. Lauren Hutton's portrayal of the independence-seeking TV director balances increasing fright and decreasing patience, in which she doesn't simply rely on the strength of others for protection or to solve dilemmas. Combined with Adrienne Barbeau's plucky assistant Sophie, whose lesbianism smoothly integrates into the film as meaningful, yet unobtrusive representation, Leigh navigates the measures she's able to take when the authorities aren't as helpful as they should be. <BR><BR>Persistent phone calls and swift movements down the hallway leading to Leigh's apartment create stylized, yet predictable and repetitive suspense in <I>Someone's Watching Me</i>, so the intensity of Hutton's performance being channeled into how she investigates the stalker's identity becomes crucial to the film's success. The design of Carpenter's script doesn't leave many options for surprises in the reveal, though, where the components of the mystery could've either resulted in an antagonist with specific, outlandish motivations … or it being somebody unknown and impertinent to what's happened beforehand. While the execution of the approach to this reveal might play out like classic horror a la John Carpenter, with effective fake-outs and amplified reactions from those being stalked, the reveal itself turns out to be remarkably anticlimactic and without resonance or meaning. <I>Someone's Watching Me</i> ends up being a functional studio-controlled suspense film that's entitled to a few good scares due to its iconic director, but it doesn't successfully hit its notes in the ways that his holiday-themed horror outing did in the same year. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73297/someones-watching-me/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/09/classic-musings-someones-watching-me.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-3051903527907740333Sat, 29 Sep 2018 01:38:00 +00002018-10-01T10:32:11.234-04:0028 days laterfilm reviewhorrorhorror dramaindieirelandthe curedzombiesDreary, Shallow 'The Cured' Takes Zombies A Bit Too Seriously<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F8YJ1XxHvVA/W67ZfjJpv5I/AAAAAAAAEdw/uJ-U7RIdgMMPcS4bjH7OhWjdcYVJwcoZQCLcBGAs/s1600/thecured.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F8YJ1XxHvVA/W67ZfjJpv5I/AAAAAAAAEdw/uJ-U7RIdgMMPcS4bjH7OhWjdcYVJwcoZQCLcBGAs/s1600/thecured.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> David Freyne; <I>Runtime:</i> 95 minutes <BR><B>Grade: C-</b><BR><BR>The most compelling character in the indie horror-drama <I>The Cured</i> is a nameless, tertiary woman: a person in the middle of being cured of a zombie virus, held in a medical transition space as she reverts from a frenzied maneater to something resembling a human again. Considering the casting of Ellen Page and the emphasis placed on the other people in the story who've been impacted by the calamity, ranging from saddened families to politicians whose aspirations were halted by getting infected, this comes as a bit of a shock. One can appreciate the ideas in which David Freyne hopes to realize in <I>The Cured</i>, in which he explores stigmas placed on those without a choice in the matter and grappling the violent things one has done in a past life. Without layered characters or potent scares, however, what's left over is a culmination of dour ideas without enough of a body to put them in motion, which leaves one searching for something, anything -- like a small side character -- to latch onto for substance. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Set in Ireland, which is recovering from the worst effects of a continent-wide zombie epidemic, <I>The Cured</i> follows a pair of men who have been given a revolutionary treatment that heals the disease. While the calamity itself may be purged from their systems -- enough to make people look and think like humans again; not quite enough to get rid of certain genetic markers that can be tracked/scanned -- they're left with one particularly harrowing side-effect: they remember everything they did, everyone they ate and/or turned, during the period. As they're introduced to society with new jobs, they struggle to reintegrate: one man, Senan (Sam Keeley), tries to get back to normal around his sister-in-law (Ellen Page) and her child, working at the reintegration facility with a doctor and patient; and the other, Conor (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), once a politician, feels the harshness dished out by the people and the mundanity of his newly assigned job. While one copes with memories to become human again, the other teeters on the brink of lashing out. <BR><BR>Zombies being transformed back into humans isn't an entirely new concept -- the horror-comedy <I>Warm Bodies</i> sunk its teeth into that idea -- but it's not one that has really been approached from an honest dramatic standpoint, which is usually reserved for depicting humans transforming into zombies (see: the underrated <I><a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/68682/maggie/">Maggie</i></a>). Perhaps it's because the logistics of making that happen, of revitalizing the human brain from either a necrotic or infected state after a prolonged period of time, are so out-there that it's tough to take in earnest … yet a little funky technobabble could ultimately make it work. <I>The Cured</i> doesn't really attempt that: David Freyne's script remains vague about the cause and functionality of the animal-derived "plague", as well as the medical resolution created to fix it. The world-building isn't terribly interesting here, instead seeming somewhat obligatory and hands-off as if to preserve to illusion of how this scenario might play out in the "real world", evading details in hopes that the audience will fill in their own gaps. By doing so, Freyne's world itself lacks detail. <BR><BR>Of course, one school of thought involving horror and sci-fi writing suggests that so long as the characters and themes accomplish unique and engaging things, that "science" can remain inconsequential. Unfortunately, such can't really be said about <I>The Cured</i> either, as the dramatics rarely go beyond its austere surface. There are flickers of ideas here regarding how people cope with stigmas -- stemming from genetics -- that they cannot control, as well as post-trauma stress and how people might move on from mistakes made in their past when they were "different people". It's a stretch to get to that symbolism, though, and looking at the events through that lens doesn't add much to the film, which revolves around varying degrees of shunning and skepticism toward those who were once zombies. The straightforward aspects of the characters don't really help the process along: Senan's desire for assimilation and Conor's revolutionary spite are in effortless opposition, and their kinship hinges on cannibalistic actions from when they literally were thinking like monsters instead of themselves. <BR><BR>Since <I>The Cured</i> doesn't rely on upfront scares, instead concerned with the permeation of terror and the complications occurring within, its momentum hinges on the staying power of grim anarchy: what happens if those that sympathize with actual zombies "partner" with the few that remain and upend the status quo. Freyne does generate a degree of dread and unpredictability once the chaos starts taking over, yet that volatility also results in the film's maddening final gut-punch of a twist, one where the sobering expressiveness of Ellen Page's turn as a traumatized mother can't overcome the infuriating contrivance of what's responsible for sparking her emotions. The primary character development ultimately ends in a wash, but at least there's also the story of that older awakening zombie woman I mentioned earlier, which culminates in a halfway sincere, heartbreaking arc once her identity gets revealed. Her progression is what <I>The Cured</i> needed more of … along with a little extra gore, perhaps. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73115/red-sparrow/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/09/dreary-shallow-cured-takes-zombies-bit.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-6670444037043226408Sat, 29 Sep 2018 01:28:00 +00002018-09-28T21:31:06.553-04:00charlize theronfilm reviewmaternityparentingplot twistpsychological dramatully'Tully' Bakes Up a Fresh, Powerful Twist on Modern Maternity<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MuJj5EKVLPs/W67UutsmoRI/AAAAAAAAEdA/TN5Y6swE1PIE7QJiP47Pet7Q8ZuW4rYFgCLcBGAs/s1600/tully-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MuJj5EKVLPs/W67UutsmoRI/AAAAAAAAEdA/TN5Y6swE1PIE7QJiP47Pet7Q8ZuW4rYFgCLcBGAs/s1600/tully-1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Jason Reitman; <I>Runtime:</i> 95 minutes <BR><B>Grade: B+</b><BR><BR>After establishing himself with a series of optimistically bittersweet films that have earned him award recognition, Jason Reitman has moved further into the cynical side of storytelling, tapping into adult themes through some uncomfortable methods. <I>Young Adult</i> marks the beginning of this phase for Reitman, in which he reteamed with <I>Juno</i> screenwriter Diablo Cody and actress Charlize Theron for a harsh coming-of-age tale of a boozy late-thirties divorcee revisiting her high-school period, building into a caustic glimpse at misguided attempts to reclaim the missed opportunities and desires of her youth. After this darkly humorous turn and the others that followed, recently capped off with a miserably overt takedown of internet addiction with <I>Men, Woman, and Children, Reitman</i> has once again paired up with Cody and Theron for what could've been the mother of all depressing character studies: <I>Tully</i>, a portrait of the psychology of strained, multiple-child motherhood. While melancholy in theme and tempo, Reitman also grasps the drama's positivity in creation of something both incisive and deeply satisfying. <BR><BR> <span id=fullpost>Marlo (Theron) and Drew (yet another endearing character turnout from Ron Livingston) are struggling parents of two, complicated by their son Jonah's development disorder that occupies a lot of their attention … and they have a third, unplanned child on the way any time now. Sensing her strain, Marlo's brother Craig decides to give them a special gift for the birth of their third child: hiring a "night nanny", a professional whose care takes place after hours so that the parents can get rest and attempt to function normally during the daytime. Marlo remains reluctant at first, but after the draining period following the birth, she's not so hesitant when a young, free-spirited woman -- Tully -- shows up on her doorstep and offers to come in for duty. As Tully enmeshes with the family dynamic, a relationship forms between she and Marlo as the exhausted mother surrenders to the aid that she offers. Tully proves she isn't just there for the newborn, though, as she opens the door for Marlo to rediscover some of the personality that she might've lost in her years of parenting. <BR><BR> Inside the warm, dim space of the household, strikingly captured by cinematographer Eric Steelberg to highlight the slow-boiling emotions of domesticity, Reitman whips together a portrayal of a family already strung out by challenges … and how bringing a new child into the mix spreads Marlo too thin. There's honesty and conscientiousness in this depiction of how the mother copes with her special-needs child, from managing his symptoms in everyday scenarios to navigating meetings with his school's administrator, which then transitions to the raw, unglamorous components of new motherhood. Quick cuts throughout the initial parenting process create this beautiful sympathy-earning portrait of chaos and frustration, gracefully toeing the line between exaggerated cinematic drama and the day-to-day perils of living with a newborn. Marlo's demanding conditions form into a comprehensive portrait that gets the maddening and exhausting points across, which inform her flawed but well-intended responses. <BR><BR> <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jB0da86chN8/W67VF4vOdTI/AAAAAAAAEdI/cxWwvdirYEoaQKdrYf8UnIXrhr4u1bm0QCLcBGAs/s1600/tully-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jB0da86chN8/W67VF4vOdTI/AAAAAAAAEdI/cxWwvdirYEoaQKdrYf8UnIXrhr4u1bm0QCLcBGAs/s1600/tully-2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>Ever since her performance in <I>The Devil's Advocate</i>, Charlize Theron has portrayed a range of layered characters who struggle with progressive internal suffering, with her emotional, guard-lowered gazes doing a lot of the heavy lifting as her body language conveys both resistance and exhaustion. This, of course, works wonders for bringing Marlo to life in <I>Tully</i>, though as she's done in other roles that tap into this sort of strained mentality, Theron also brings a distinctive attitude to the strung-out mother. At first, both Cody's writing and the direction avoid clear-cut explanations of who Marlo once was and how she's transformed into this increasingly cynical, yet loving and devoted persona, though subtle hints arise in conversations with her brother -- a reliably sarcastic yet likable and genuine Mark Duplass -- about her pre-parent attitude and problems encountered in earlier pregnancies. Through both raw physical displays of maternity and honest emotive outbursts, Theron's sincere portrayal invites those watching to experience what she's enduring and decipher what kind of person might be trapped under the surface. <BR><BR> Once the night nanny shows up at the doorstep reporting for duty, the tone of <I>Tully</i> shifts into a balance between suspiciousness and an exhale of relief, showcasing how this new element impacts their happiness levels by working into facets of the family's day-to-day activity. The script from Diablo Cody does fire off a little of that overt wordsmith dialogue found in her earlier screenplays -- such as Marlo comparing herself to a trash boat -- but it's not of the same tempo as <I>Juno</i> and <I>Jennifer's Body</i>, employing a deft, mature touch in how she approaches the psychology of motherhood. The ways she allows Tully to take over certain aspects of her life expresses a bit about the balance between being a good parent and learning how to both let go and accept help from others, deepened by Mackenzie Davis' embodiment of a free-spirited intellect as the nanny. Davis supports the film's credibility during moments when the burdened mother easily opens up about her frustrations, desires, and past, turning what could've been too-quick development into an intriguing, resonant progression of their chemistry. <BR><BR> Throughout most of <I>Tully</i>, the script from Diablo Cody revolves around the surface-level demands thrust upon Marlo, working its way toward themes involving the depression that can stem from post-partum issues as well as from the exhaustion of caring for multiple kids … and neglecting one's well-being. While this might sound overly somber in the same vein as the director's other recent work, Reitman succeeds in developing a sympathetic character drama that toes the line between melancholy and uplifting tones, slipping in rays of triumph and positivity as the night nanny's presence takes effect. <I>Tully</i> doesn't stop there, though, as Diablo Cody dusts off well-worn devices from the realm of psychological drama and works them into her earnest depiction of the maternal mindset. What was already a compelling, evenhanded character drama about parenting and identity grows, through its culmination of ideas at the end, into a meaningful realization of conceptual plotting that deals with things that aren't in any way beyond its maturity level. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73236/tully/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/09/tully-bakes-up-fresh-powerful-twist-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-3563962644584939613Sat, 29 Sep 2018 00:34:00 +00002018-09-28T21:29:19.461-04:00anya taylor-joydrumsfilm reviewmurder mysteryolivia cookepreppiesrevengethoroughbredsA Steady, Heavy Pace Drives Spectacular 'Thoroughbreds'<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NHWmcr88hNI/W67EsbfxExI/AAAAAAAAEc0/0Kr8k3YmQaM9F_JmoMHvoijOMvW0QR67gCLcBGAs/s1600/thoroughbreds-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NHWmcr88hNI/W67EsbfxExI/AAAAAAAAEc0/0Kr8k3YmQaM9F_JmoMHvoijOMvW0QR67gCLcBGAs/s1600/thoroughbreds-1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Cory Finley; <I>Runtime:</i> 92 minutes <BR><B>Grade: B+</b><BR><BR>Dark comedy, twisted teenagers, and murder plots have walked hand-in-hand since the ‘80s, where light jabs and satirical angles try to keep that subject matter from appearing too grim or morbid. For the most part, that heavy attitude still overpowers the doses of humor injected into the film, ranging from the callousness involved with social ostracization an suicide in <I>Heathers</i> to the layering of deceit and importance of popularity in <I>Jawbreaker</i>. It's a lineage that undeniably courses within the veins of <I>Thoroughbreds</i>, Cory Finley's pitch-black glimpse at a pair of near college-aged girls who consider murdering someone who's making one of their lives miserable. Between the deadpan tempo of its humor, sharp outlook on dismantling social conventions, and examination of both the main characters' psyches -- all alongside a riveting percussion-driven score -- <I>Thoroughbreds</i> ends up being a different beast than other like-minded members of the mortal teen-angst clique, perhaps a more meaningful one. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Under scrutiny for animal cruelty after crudely euthanizing her ailing horse, Amanda (Olivia Cooke) no longer maintains any friendships in her upper-class Connecticut neighborhood. Once a friend of Amanda's, Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) gets persuaded to try and hang out with her, under the guise of a study session. Tensions rise between them when Amanda figures out the rationale (and compensation) behind Lily's rejuvenated interest in their friendship. Once the pair lower their guards and start being honest with one another about their personalities and behavioral issues -- Amanda's inability to feel emotions or social discomfort; Lily's obligation to act proper and hide her honest, bitter side -- they start to cut through the problems that truly ail each other. Turns out, between her father's death and her mother's remarriage to a wealthy yet abrasive businessman, Lily's dealing with her own mentally demanding issues, which takes a surprising detour toward considering whether she could pull off a murder. <BR><BR><I>Thoroughbreds</i> functions around Amanda's numbed emotional condition as the driving force behind its conceptual strategies, and a character like that could've easily come across as a deliberate pawn for the plot without a convincing human resonance. Bringing a similarly quiet potency to her performance as she did to <I>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl</i>, Olivia Cooke embodies the uniquely stoic and blunt mannerisms of Amanda with a specific authenticity through her wearied gaze and mildly gravelly voice. As she cuts through social norms while chatting with Lily about the nature of standard test answers, false emotions, and her perception of death and murder, Amanda transcends any appearances of being a plot device and becomes an authentic character worth exploring, and worth one's empathy. While the film might be branded a comedy, the only tried-and-true humor can be gleaned from Cooke's deadpan delivery of the character's unfiltered attitude, which -- much like Lily -- shocks one at first and then simply become an inherent part of her charm. She's a unique, layered persona, and not merely a moving part of the script. <BR><BR><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c4USs0bZTvo/W67Vaml5LTI/AAAAAAAAEdQ/EV5z3Y74XdgTTh7ID7_MeoUsK3ItrlB8gCLcBGAs/s1600/thoroughbreds-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c4USs0bZTvo/W67Vaml5LTI/AAAAAAAAEdQ/EV5z3Y74XdgTTh7ID7_MeoUsK3ItrlB8gCLcBGAs/s1600/thoroughbreds-2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>Amanda's emotional detachment -- and how it factors into an atmosphere that could lead to murder -- might provide the hook for the plot in <I>Thoroughbreds</i>, but Lily ends up being a more compelling subject for a character study, shaped into a mysterious and thoroughly gray-area entity by Anya Taylor-Joy. While there's unpredictability to how Amanda's disposition will respond to different scenarios, there's also a degree of consistency to her forthrightness and what can be expected from that, something that Lily doesn't share. Her attitude becomes deliberately fluid as she adjusts to her new kinship with Amanda, shedding the false upper-class veneer for the shrewdness and candor that really lies underneath. Much like what Christian Slater's JD accomplishes with Winona Ryder's Veronica in <I>Heathers</i>, Amanda draws out the audacious feelings stirring in Lily … though, as the story methodically reveals, those feelings have been impacting her life for quite some time. Discovering the boundaries that Lily's willing to cross, illustrating the depths of her own mental darkness, becomes absorbing. <BR><BR>With the clever, spread-out arrangement of a drum-heavy musical score elevating the mood throughout Lily's family mansion and elsewhere, the suspense mounts in <I>Thoroughbreds</i> once the topic of murder gets breached between the two girls, organically shifting from personality clashes to ethical musings. There isn't any gleefulness to the topic of murder here, as the tension executed by Cory Finley hinges less on how the pair might kill someone and more on whether their moral barometers would allow them to do so. The topic of sociopathy gets introduced early in the story, and a big part of what makes <I>Thoroughbreds</i> an intriguing piece of work comes in deciphering whether either of the girls fit the mold of a sociopath, or whether the circumstances are simply that dire that they're driven to severe choices. Director Finley ensures that there isn't just simplicity to interpreting that, either, underscored by the menacing presence of Lily's step-father and the girls' willingness to seek out a strung-out drug dealer who might be willing to help, creepily embodied by Anton Yelchin in one of his last performances. <BR><BR>Whatever resemblance of humor there might've been early on in <I>Thoroughbreds</i> gets stampeded by the heaviness of its later psychological thrills, which hinge on a semi-realistic grasp on the gravity and finality of committing murder instead of glorifying vengeance and/or violence. This is a more fascinating downward spiral for the thematic weight of it all than the logistics of how things occur, in which writer/director Finley relies on the culmination of expressive goals and the austerity of his style -- at one point involving superb usage of distanced sound, long-shot cinematography, and offscreen brutality -- to distract from a few issues with plausibility. What <I>Thoroughbreds</i> has to say about upper-class elitism, coping with grief, and the mental strain placed on teens regardless of their upbringing gallops in step with the suspense, spurring the film's momentum forward without getting preoccupied with forcing clear-cut messages upon those watching. It wouldn't be incorrect to consider this <I>Heathers</i> for a new generation, but with an added cerebral kick that better leads it into modern concerns. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73160/thoroughbreds/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/09/a-steady-heavy-pace-drives-spectacular.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-15471526443938080Thu, 12 Jul 2018 12:26:00 +00002018-07-12T08:26:06.618-04:00film reviewhunger gamesjennifer lawrencejoel edgertonred sparrowrussiasexualitysparrowspy thrillerweaponized sexLawrence Trades Arrows for Stoic Sexuality in 'Red Sparrow'<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NXSXQKrlWu0/W0dHSC7PW9I/AAAAAAAAEb0/dt2KutTINbcuqGzuMVzjpsjjGWypZQU8wCLcBGAs/s1600/redsparrow2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NXSXQKrlWu0/W0dHSC7PW9I/AAAAAAAAEb0/dt2KutTINbcuqGzuMVzjpsjjGWypZQU8wCLcBGAs/s1600/redsparrow2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Francis Lawrence; <I>Runtime:</i> 140 minutes <BR><B>Grade: B</b><BR><BR>Almost overnight, Francis Lawrence went from being "the guy responsible for a bland <I>Omega Man</i> remake" to "the director who made a (debatably) better <I>Hunger Games</i> film than the original", taking the helm of the popular young-adult franchise spearheaded by Jennifer Lawrence. A significant part of why <I>Catching Fire</i> turned out as well as it did was because director Lawrence engages the psychology of a headstrong yet traumatized woman, someone who's been forced to endure harrowing situations involving violence and death that, in one way or another, were of her doing. The duo aims to hit a similar blend of suspenseful action and mental torment with <I>Red Sparrow</i>, which puts Jennifer Lawrence in the position of a recruited cover agent for the Russian government shortly after her character endures truly disturbing circumstances. While it's exhilarating, bleak, and daring in how it explores sexuality as a weapon, the nature of the story keeps deeper examinations of the main character at arm's length, producing an absorbing reluctant-spy thriller whose expressive layers never completely catch fire. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>The sparrow here -- yeah, I know, the bird nicknames are a little much one right after the other -- is Dominika (Lawrence), an ex-dancer who was abruptly knocked out of the Bolshi ballet company. In her period of grief and realization afterwards, and while wrestling with new financial troubles, Dominika gets approached by a relative (a debonair Matthias Schoenaerts) to join Russian Intelligence, effectively making her a spy. After enduring and adapting to certain complications in her first "assignment", she's sent off to train to be one of the "sparrows": spies specifically chosen for their physical or sexual attributes. Her training hones both her powers of seduction and her threshold for indecency and passion, making her the ideal candidate to sniff out the identity of a mole among the Russian government's hierarchy, which starts by her building a relationship with Nash (Joel Edgerton), a rough-around-the-edges and now-identified CIA operative. Motives shift, and allegiances come under question as she works to achieving her mission. <BR><BR>Classic, almost archetypal circumstances bring Dominika into the spy fold, yet whether that's the product of familiar storytelling or the impacts of having an ex-CIA employee -- Jason Matthews, also the source book's author -- as an active creative force behind <I>Red Sparrow</i> can be unclear. Financial troubles, medical bills, and ailing parents provide commonplace motivations for the young woman to essentially be forced into a world of espionage, while the bitterness stemming from her failed career choice has that same kind of quasi true-story mundanity to it. The pathway to Dominika becoming involved with Russian Intelligence may earn degrees of base sympathy, but it's not terribly inventive in how it does so, and perhaps that's a good thing. Instead, the somewhat monotonous real-world texture of her backstory doesn't get in the way of how her desperation and spite evolve alongside the moving parts of her introduction to espionage, providing a foundation for the weapon that she's to become. <BR><BR><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k9Z_Ea2CdvY/W0dHmywyUCI/AAAAAAAAEb8/56cb5T9GwI0NhjARDCQzg_angK9g28RcACLcBGAs/s1600/redsparrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k9Z_Ea2CdvY/W0dHmywyUCI/AAAAAAAAEb8/56cb5T9GwI0NhjARDCQzg_angK9g28RcACLcBGAs/s1600/redsparrow.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>Teetering on the line between graphic violence and harrowing themes must've been a lot for the Lawrence-Lawrence duo to take in <I>The Hunger Games</i>, because <I>Red Sparrow</i> gives them the chance to push much further than they've gone before, especially when it comes to the boundaries involving sexuality and violence. The content does become graphic early and throughout, involving instances of rape and humiliation that'll be uncomfortable for some -- most? -- viewers; however, the bleakness of the story's viewpoint on lost innocence and the corruption and weaponization of sexuality becomes a compelling thematic driving force. Under the tutelage of an appropriately stern Charlotte Rampling, training to become a "sparrow" ends up being the crux of Dominika's character development, in which the caliber of her physique becomes what's perceived to be the only tool left at her disposal, keeping her world afloat. Watching how she takes the dynamics of sexual aggression and twists them into true instruments of power can be both mesmerizing and disheartening, where one admires the steeling of her resolve but also laments what she endures and loses along the way. <BR><BR>Thus, Dominika ends up being cold and detached, expressing little of the personality that lies underneath the clinical operative that leaves the sparrow training facility. That becomes a complicated aspect of <I>Red Sparrow</i>, in that this becomes less of an examination of her character and more about observing what said character becomes in the wake of her world being ravaged and broken to a point of no return, providing a unique challenge for Jennifer Lawrence. There are subtleties in her performance as Dominika charges into the gauntlet of her real assignment, in which the character dispatches her new arsenal of psychological tricks without being completely hardened by her experiences, where glances, twitches, and quakes in dialogue offer momentary glimpses at the person she once was. Lawrence displays bravery -- both physical and emotional -- in the chain reaction of sequences that get her into the field as a "sparrow", and through an on-and-off tolerable Russian accent portrays a woman who both channels and restrains ferocity while gathering intel, getting close to Joel Edgerton's stock CIA-operative, and doing a little sleight of hand. <BR><BR>Much like the circumstances leading into Dominika's acceptance into the Russian spy program, the hunt for a mole and the manipulations between competing spies come together into mundane plotting for <I>Red Sparrow</i>, though that's somewhat par for the course with "everyday" bouts of espionage. While the script fabricates tension through unnecessary physical obstacles and bad decisions made by those outside the world of espionage -- Mary-Louise Parker turns in a peculiar cameo as an informant drunk out of her mind -- the bravado involved with how director Lawrence executes torture sequences and connects the dots of several underlying mysteries offset those shortcomings in credibility. Again, <I>Red Sparrow</i> isn't intriguing because of what's happening, but in how Dominika manipulates the events with the tools now at her disposal, as her motivations and allegiances appear to remain fluid all the way until its cunningly arranged finale. It's gripping to watch her decide that she's going to be the sparrow, yet that transformation lacks dramatic poignancy without a clear perspective on an earlier version of herself. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73115/red-sparrow/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/07/lawrence-trades-arrows-for-stoic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-4735921928487880557Thu, 12 Jul 2018 12:14:00 +00002018-07-12T08:14:11.155-04:00estoniafencingfilm reviewssovietsports dramaswordsthe fencerunderdog storyworld war II'Fencer': Familiar, Yet Still a Historical Underdog Contender<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDMozkm-_Ww/W0dEYf-R7_I/AAAAAAAAEbo/0fcB8sYQ1_g8gqzogCSacfnXoq1dQXHHwCLcBGAs/s1600/thefencer.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDMozkm-_Ww/W0dEYf-R7_I/AAAAAAAAEbo/0fcB8sYQ1_g8gqzogCSacfnXoq1dQXHHwCLcBGAs/s1600/thefencer.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Klaus Haro; <I>Runtime:</i> 99 minutes <BR><B>Grade: B</b><BR><BR>Sports dramas have this inherent poignancy that, more often than not, relies on two cinematic features for their success: either the effortless emotions of an underdog story, or the insights and unique context involved with depicting a sport that isn't so mainstream or regularly featured on the big screen. The options are starting to dry up, though, as there's only so many ways that the underdog story can be told and a finite number of unseen sports that can have a spotlight pointed on them. <I>The Fencer</i> slips in and manages to deliver a bit of both, depicting a post WWII-era youth sports club that resorts to the ancient art of sword-dueling in the absence of other athletic resources, revealing bits about the learning process involved with the sport, how its dangers are perceived, and how they factored into the political climate of USSR-occupied Estonia. While the maneuvers of its David vs. Goliath narrative might be familiar, the pacing, atmosphere, and raw spirit involved with bringing it to life mostly evades those recognizable traits. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>In hopes of avoiding detection by Soviet's "secret army", ex-soldier Endel Nelis (Mart Avandi ) flees Leningrad for the small town of Haapsalu, Estonia, where he takes an instructor's position as the head of an athletic club for pre-teen children. Once there, he realizes that his post will involve bureaucracy from the school's principal and a lack of resources due to waning prioritization of the children's physical education, hinged more on keeping everyone under control and being good Soviets than enriching their lives. Frustrated, and with an athletic background of his own, Nelis decided to act on an idea that doesn't require much more than sticks and learned movements: to establish a fencing club for the children. The students' interest in the club ends up being more substantial than he had planned for, eventually leading them to grow interested in a competition taking place in … Leningrad. Ender Nelis is forced to choose whether he should risk his own well-being so the children might engage their ambitions and prove themselves. <BR><BR>The full authenticity of the recount might be disputable, but Endel Nelis was a real and esteemed fencing coach in Estonia, and <I>The Fencer</i> hopes to capture that semi-true story appeal with an almost docu-drama essence to the work. Austere, faded-color cinematography beautifully captures the sparseness of the school's halls and cramped domiciles of the Estonian town, which almost immediately surrenders to the energy of the children -- even during their first session -- as they start to embrace the physicality and artistry of the sport. The chronology of <I>The Fencer</i> can seem jumpy, advancing in time to progress the children's capabilities and interest levels, but this also lends immediacy to the meeting point between Endel's past and present. If there's a downside to the swift progression, it's that the attention paid to the students gets focused onto two individuals instead of an even dispersal across the whole fencing club, which can be significant when it comes to the film's themes about inspiring youth. <BR><BR><I>The Fencer</i> zeroes in on depicting Endel Nelis and his impact upon the children, as well as the dilemmas involved in his establishment of the club and his decision about whether to compete in Leningrad. A spare, low-simmering emotional performance from Mart Avandi allows the instructor to take shape as a wounded, yet resolute byproduct of the pre-WWII era, someone who resolves their desire to retreat and attempt to life a normal life with sacrificing himself for the betterment of his pupils. While the pursuit for brevity persuades Nelis to transition and make choices with less effort than they probably should -- whether to teach children how to swordfight; whether to defy the school administration; whether to request supplies from across the border -- they also form into a heartening study of his traits. It's the relationship that forms with those two aforementioned students that become the film's expressive cornerstones: his bond with sweet, blond-haired Marta (a steadfast Liisa Koppel) spurs his desire to teach, and the pre-teen son of a local woman questions why a master fencer would be teaching them in the first place. <BR><BR>Director Klaus Haro does an admirable job of concealing the inevitability of <I>The Fencer</i>, but especially with this story's particular tempo, that's almost impossible to do. One can only hope that the fencing itself becomes engaging enough to hold interest in the throughline, and luckily the execution of the sport stays quick-witted and resourceful throughout, amplified by the immaculate photography that carefully observes the footwork, the lunges, and the space surrounding the opponents. Despite having seen this tale play out before in different contexts and characterizations -- Daniel LaRusso's angsty square-offs with the Cobra Kai; Rocky Balboa's rags-vs.-riches determination to brawl Apollo Creed -- <I>The Fencer</i> nails this sport's uniquely clever and delicate suspense once it reaches the competition phase in its penultimate act, less dramatic parrying and more swift reflexes and operating against the clock. Informed but not overburdened by the resolution of Eldel Nelis' flight from the Soviets, it lands blows as both rousing underdog fiction and a credible glimpse at fencing during a tense moment in history. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73139/fencer-the/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/07/fencer-familiar-yet-still-historical.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-5759941168619027190Thu, 12 Jul 2018 12:02:00 +00002018-09-28T23:52:00.174-04:001952black and whiteclassic musingsfeaturesfilm reviewmarriagemy cousin rachelmysteryOlivia de Havillandrixhard burtonClassic Musings: My Cousin Rachel (1952)<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o71wpFhxHSo/W0dCzQcLiXI/AAAAAAAAEbc/fWflGgLe5egvJWE7p1Nryl_h3pX8dKHiQCLcBGAs/s1600/rachel.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o71wpFhxHSo/W0dCzQcLiXI/AAAAAAAAEbc/fWflGgLe5egvJWE7p1Nryl_h3pX8dKHiQCLcBGAs/s1600/rachel.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>This may seem like common sense, but it occasionally deserves a reminder: the nature of the performances in a film can change the entire fabric of the storytelling. Under better circumstances, <I>My Cousin Rachel</i> should play out as a clever glimpse into the machinations of a widow with unclear motivations, whose interactions with her deceased husband's family could lead her either toward malicious intents or toward her being misjudged by those around her. Conversely, the viewpoint of the young heir to this estate would benefit from more consistent skepticism, since the story's tone leans into that doubting atmosphere. This adaptation of a 1951 novel by Daphne du Maurier loses those intentions, though, despite the efforts of Oscar-recognized talents and a gloomy setting, where instead of indistinct motivations and shifting perceptions, the plot plays out more like a character examination of an easily-persuaded mark and hardships utterly of his making. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>The owner of a substantial English estate, Ambrose Ashley (John Sutton) has taken his young cousin, Philip (Richard Burton), into his home after the death of his parents. They lived well over many years, creating a strong family bond between them, well into points when Ambrose starts having health issues. Yearning to avoid the harsh climate, he travels abroad to Italy without Philip -- now a man in his mid-20s -- where he finds himself stranded away from his estate due to a degradation in his illness. Confusion emerges when Philip receives odd letters from his cousin about the care he's receiving, to which Philip later discovers that he had died. During the process, however, Ambrose had found someone that he loves in Italy and decided to marry her, bringing the ownership of the estate into question. When Ambrose's wife, Rachel (Olivia de Havilland), arrives to the estate after a prolonged period of keeping her distance, Philip's skepticism about her motivations takes hold … but so does his sense of empathy, as well as his own fond feelings for the "middle-aged" woman. <BR><BR><I>My Cousin Rachel</i> begins slowly and deliberately, illustrating what life's like at the Ashley estate before and during Ambrose's vacation abroad. There isn't much development to Philip's character, shifting gears from the curious boy of his youth to the older-than-he-looks chap embodied by Richard Burton, yielding someone whose traits are largely indistinguishable from other naïve, skeptical, semi-hotheaded men of privilege in their 20s. Burton's performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but the reasons for that struggle to be seen in his responsiveness to learning of Ambrose Ashley's death, which default to uninteresting histrionics that do little to enrich the mystery involved with the issues his cousin encountered overseas. His relationship with godfather and estate manager Nick Kendall becomes a more intriguing facet of this early period, mostly due to how Nick micromanages the young Ashley's impulses and imparts knowledge about his cousin's hereditary ailments. <BR><BR>Under the veil of Joseph LaShelle's beautiful shadowy and stone-textured cinematography, youthful rage and skepticism fuel the lead-up in <I>My Cousin Rachel</i>, to such a degree that one still yearns to know more about this mystery widow and how Philip will respond when he's eventually confronted by her. Alas, the moments when they finally meet also becomes the turning point into the film's complications, fueled by an unpersuasive mild-mannered performance from Olivia de Havilland, whose overly amicable, buttoned-up demeanor doesn't jibe with the vagueness of her character's interests. Here, these don't read like the mannerisms of somebody who could be a misunderstood widow caught in tricky circumstances, but like the façade that's projected when someone's trying to conceal their true intentions as they get in the good graces of others. When the circumstances are as suspect as they are involving Ambrose's death, this entity needs to be an influential dramatic force if ambiguity's the intention, and Olivia de Havilland's turn as Rachel lacks the swaying power to make that happen. <BR><BR>Therefore, when the puzzle pieces fall into place and the "twists" play out in <I>My Cousin Rachel</i>, the surprises aren't found in the revealed truths of characters' objectives, but in Philip's obliviousness as his headstrong distrust quickly morphs into generosity, affection … and ignorance. Dramatic lighting and musical cues attempt to punctuate moments of realization and frustration between the cousin and the widow, but the inherent trickiness involved with the push-and-pull of ownership over the estate undermines the film's crucial mysterious streak. The swiftness of how the powers of persuasion take hold in Henry Koster's execution undercut the story's gothic romantic suspense, worsening as the ramifications of those persuasions shape where the plot goes after that. Unlike how the harrowing psychological elements and quick relationship-building were so effortlessly applied to Daphne du Maurier's writing in Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation of <I>Rebecca</i>, Koster's handling of <I>My Cousin Rachel</i> lets those crucial transitions fall by the wayside, and it drags those desired ambiguities down with them. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73134/my-cousin-rachel/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/07/classic-musings-my-cousin-rachel-1952.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-8234970309291116409Thu, 12 Jul 2018 11:54:00 +00002018-10-01T10:26:12.875-04:00actionbraveheartepixfeaturesfilm reviewhistoricalhistorical fictionmel gibsonmovies i lovescotlandMovies I Love: Braveheart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uya97AoUmPo/W0dBA47LZ0I/AAAAAAAAEbM/gejAJ6ERuH8xOrzurxcNSWJFHq7o0WkBgCLcBGAs/s1600/beaveheartblog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uya97AoUmPo/W0dBA47LZ0I/AAAAAAAAEbM/gejAJ6ERuH8xOrzurxcNSWJFHq7o0WkBgCLcBGAs/s1600/beaveheartblog.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a></div><BR><BR>For roughly a decade and change after its initial release, <I>Braveheart</i> expanded outside the boundaries of its historical epic niche and into the annals of popular culture. Images of characters sporting half-painted blue faces became a staple in spoofs, cartoons, and other general TV shows, while more sincere references to William Wallace's multiple proclamations about "FREEDOM!" throughout the film slipped into inspirational speeches of all sorts. This was during a rebirth for the subgenre of blockbuster historical epics, which endured such saturation during that period that both viewers and the Hollywood machine became exhausted by one after another, which led to the classic subgenre being mostly shelved until audiences seem like they're ready for it again; as of now, the desire for superhero films has filled that "more, more, more" void. What separates this one from its contemporaries can be found in Mel Gibson's craftsmanship and fierce charisma in the lead role, along with the riveting story itself of pursuing a severance from royal authoritative rule, resulting in a triumph that's more than just the inherent grandeur and wrought emotion of its peers. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost><I>Braveheart</i> depicts the struggles of freedom fighter William Wallace (Mel Gibson) during 13th century Scotland. At first, with William as a boy, we grow to embrace the Wallace family in its infancy. As the younger of two boys under their father alone, Wallace must stick around and tend to the family farm while his father and brother ride off to battle for their land. When he looks towards the horizon the day after while doing his chores to see the weathered Scots without his father and brother, he knows what's happened without being told. Strategic choices were made for the casting at this point in the film, ones that light a poetic fire underneath the story from its start. James Robinson delivers a gentle, evocative performance as the young William, projecting subdued strength underneath his sullen demeanor. He connects brilliantly with young Murron, a girl who silently brings him an impromptu gift at his family's funeral, proving to be the last moments of innocence for Wallace as his uncle, Argyle (Brian Cox), trots in following the funeral to whisk William away to a life of hardened education and training. <BR><BR>At this point, <I>Braveheart</i> begins to grow into the kind of dramatic endeavor that speaks to movie lovers of all stripes. Galloping across the beautiful Scottish countryside amidst beautifully expansive cinematography from director of photography John Toll, Wallace returns to his home many years later. He begins to fix up his house, interacts with some of his family's old acquaintances, and rediscovers his young Murron (Catherine McCormick). Rapid romance <img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2L-d7G-3Sio/W0dAP-eE5DI/AAAAAAAAEa8/MVdt4fJm7t8gn5EP1q2zhZPjn4a8nXUuQCLcBGAs/s1600/braveheartblog2.jpg" align=right style=margin:8px/>doesn't sit terribly well with me with most films, but the instinctual progressions between William and Murron comes across with such warmth and candor that it overcomes those concerns. Plus, it's in every way affected by the absorbing performance from McCormack, giving us welcome reason to see where Wallace's anger will come from. She's the catalyst for the film's spirit: while the story's other objectives begin to move into place, attention falls upon how the pair of 'em build their bond as tradition, family ambition, and rebelliousness entwine into tender romance. <BR><BR>Scotland is under oppressive control by the English under the mustache-twirling King Edward the Long Shanks. Patrick McGoohan offers an oddly provoking and unctuous performance as the King, with ample reasoning to despise him without sensing much of his strength. Through his whims and decrees, he invokes chaos and suppressed tyranny from corner to corner along his boundaries, and from the loins of their master, his henchmen carry the same offensive clout at the lower levels through his kingdom. During a ramshackle attempt from these guards to violate Murron in the main town, William provokes an act of retaliatory aggression with the local English troops. In response, she falls victim to the English repugnance, and with an impassioned man like Wallace, that kind of act would undoubtedly lead to more than just a few choice words with the lord. Thus, the gears of war and revolt begin to turn. <BR><BR><I>Braveheart</i> tugs at the heartstrings and dazzles the senses with evocative images through its quaint beginnings, then grows absorbingly coarse as the epic tragedy gains momentum through its spirit of independence and chivalric resolve. William's vigor grows into a smoldering blend of vengeance and strife for Scotland's freedom from this oppression, and the viewer can see him become a physical embodiment of Scotland itself, living and breathing purely for their sovereignty and nothing else … and one effortlessly empathizes with him. His following soldiers, meticulously portrayed by a host of strong character actors led by Brendan Gleeson as Wallace's childhood friend and David O'Hara as the crazy Irish fighter, unabashedly support him, both out of respect and out of his writhing sympathy for Murron. Gibson's ruggedly charismatic performance as Wallace keeps him appearing famished and desperate - but never with wavering force. <BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4iaEoscEl-k/W0dAyLnMzMI/AAAAAAAAEbI/JOw2re6CfZU1-NYML6-E1Lk0HsnVrsgQACLcBGAs/s1600/beaveheartblog3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4iaEoscEl-k/W0dAyLnMzMI/AAAAAAAAEbI/JOw2re6CfZU1-NYML6-E1Lk0HsnVrsgQACLcBGAs/s1600/beaveheartblog3.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a></div><BR><BR>As Gibson's film thunders forward with its haunting pipe-laden score and beautifully soiled cinematography, it becomes obvious why <I>Braveheart</i>'s tale of burgeoning freedom continues to work as well as it does, unleashing something expressive with every cinematic maneuver it pulls off. The film's epic narrative and kilt-stained visual grandeur triumphs through a poignant level of interwoven, meaningful components, forming into a brutal, tragic, and altogether breathtaking piece of work … and that's even before the film's grandiose battles. Famous for its "freedom speech" before a showdown with the English, <I>Braveheart</i> offers a lot of suspenseful brutality, with plenty of severed limbs and blood splattered along the emerald lawns. Yet, it's within the context aside the brutality that these battles are elevated from acts of flailing viciousness to intriguing stratagems, where, amid backstabs and trickery through the struggles between the English and the Scots, the clanking of swords becomes much more rewarding and engrossing. <BR><BR>Alongside the narrative of tragic love and the ensuing pursuit for liberty, <I>Braveheart</i> also offers glimpses behind closed doors at the inner conflicts within the English camp. The former French Princess of Wales, portrayed with incredible charisma by Sophie Marceau, struggles to build a relationship with her potentially gay husband, the Prince of England. She yearns for her own freedom from the reigns of different kinds of English oppression and, in connections with William Wallace, delivers one of the few glimmers of purity and beauty through her aid towards the Scots. While full of layers and complications, Gibson brings all this to the table as straightforward, coherent, yet volatile drama until politics complicate the final act, involving Robert the Bruce (Angus McFayden) and his family's lineage. Through this, the pace methodically downshifts to a slower tempo, built for reflection while deliberately suppressing the ferocity. Braveheart never loses its grip on the vigor established at its beginning, though, merely providing a breather leading up to a gut wrenching and evocative finale that, yeah, never fails squeeze a tear out of these eyes. <BR><BR><I>For the full 4K UltraHD review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73088/braveheart/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/07/movies-i-love-braveheart.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-3133477136578293629Thu, 12 Jul 2018 11:35:00 +00002018-07-12T07:35:59.648-04:00actionfilm reviewmartial artsthousand faces of dunjiawuxiayuen woo ping'Men in Black: Ancient Asia Style' In Wonky Wuxia Flop 'Dunjia' <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xOsWsTxdej8/W0c7csKTF-I/AAAAAAAAEas/XBpy690ntwAzdTvdy8YlHOdVvM-P6Sk4wCLcBGAs/s1600/dunjia1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xOsWsTxdej8/W0c7csKTF-I/AAAAAAAAEas/XBpy690ntwAzdTvdy8YlHOdVvM-P6Sk4wCLcBGAs/s1600/dunjia1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Yuen Woo-ping; <I>Runtime: </i>113 minutes <BR><B>Grade: D+</b><BR><BR>Yuen Woo-ping may be best known for his work as a fight choreographer, but he has also served as the de-facto director for several of the greats from the martial arts genre, from <I>Drunken Master</i> to <I>Iron Monkey</i> and <I>Tai-Chi Master</i>. One common thread between those works is that the hand-to-hand battles are strung together by relatively straightforward and unobtrusive stories, allowing the physicality of the actors and the combat itself to move around unencumbered from the weight of too-much narrative. <I>The Thousand Faces of Dunjia</i> couldn't be more different from Yuen Woo-ping's earlier work if it tried, in which fantasy-laden storytelling swirls together with copious computer-generated effects to tell an overly-complicated tale of warring factions, clandestine aliens, prophesized leaders and weapons required by powerful monster-like critters to conquer the earth. Between swaths of dizzying plotting and visuals, very little genuine martial-arts action goes down, amounting to a peculiarly labored, somewhat deceptive, and mostly unbearable blockbuster from China. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Shortly after he's accepted into a local law-enforcement regiment, fresh-faced officer Dao (Aarif Lee) gets sent on a wild goose chase by his superiors, a means of both hazing him and forcing him out of the department. While searching for perps, Dao stumbles upon a suspicious individual that draws him into something unexpected: a world of alien-like monsters, and the clan of warriors who monitor them and keep them under wraps. Upon his meeting with Metal Dragonfly (Ni Ni), the clan discovers the emergence of a plot for the aliens to come out of hiding and reclaim the world, while also dealing with the discovery of their new, predestined leader in a most unexpected place. While the clan remains skeptical of Dao, they tentatively team up with the constable to take on those mythical forces, rushing to gain ownership of a particular weapon and unlock their own deeply-hidden powers before time runs out. <BR><BR>Written by frequent Yuen Woo-ping collaborator Tsui Hark -- who had a hand in creating the successful <I>Chinese Ghost Story</i> and <I>Detective Dee</i> fantasy franchises -- <I>The Thousand Faces of Dunjia</i> is a pure chunk of blockbuster whimsy, packed full of recognizable tropes and borrowed devices from other films. Something that goes mostly undisclosed by the trailers, this ends up trying to be a low-key rehash of <I>Men in Black</i>, of all things, in its story of hidden "aliens" and the clandestine police force that keeps the truth hidden while quashing threats. It was the point when Metal Dragonfly uses "memory moths" to make someone forget everything they've seen to a specific time and place that the similarities become clear, as did the script's awkward efforts to force that angle upon the ancient Chinese period. Couple that with unnecessarily dense plotting involving superpowers conveniently bottled up in orbs, random selection of leaders for the organization regardless of age, and intense monsters that require specific weapons for whatever reason, and you've got an unbelievable mess of a story that's simply <I>too much</i>. <BR><BR>Labored plotting like this can blend into the background of fantasy-action films, though, offering just enough to prop up up tentpole sequences and the intended signature elements of the film's momentum, assumed here to be martial-arts complexity based off the creatives forces involved. Instead, <I>The Thousand Faces of Dunjia</i> becomes overwhelmingly focused on bountiful computer-generated effects bringing monsters and superpowers to life, with very little genuine hand-to-hand combat. As if Yuen Woo-ping and Tsui Hark received a directive to jack up the outlandishness and idiosyncrasy from the popular <I>Chinese Ghost Story</i> remakes or Tsui Hark's own <I>Detective Dee</i>, the unnatural presence of monsters are prioritized in action sequences over natural human battles. Wings flap, fish flop around, worm-like tendrils wiggle in the air, and humans morph into other humans or towering, colorful beasts … yet the visual grandeur here plays more like distractions from what's not there, emotional substance and martial-arts engagement, than actual interest in the outrageousness being executed. <BR><BR>Between unconvincing swaths of computer wizardry, the humans of <I>The Thousand Faces of Dunjia</i> take stabs at blatant humor and prolonged over-explaining of what's ultimately an ordinary tale of good vs. evil. Peculiar sexist humor and behavior -- especially the repeated use of obligatory face-slaps as punishment for fraternization among the clan -- lend an awkwardness to the film's exuberance that accomplishes little beyond stalling its momentum, producing many points where one wishes they'd all just shut up and start fighting. Once that actually does happen, they engage in battles driven far more by sorcery than actual martial arts, and while the particle effects involving smoke and water can be somewhat fun to watch, their contact with the real world stays a few steps behind a credible level of tangibility. Ending abruptly in a way that can't decide whether to start a franchise or quickly wrap things up because those plans were cancelled, <I>Dunjia</i> winds up being a clumsy, weakly-telegraphed thud from Yuen Woo-ping. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73046/thousand-faces-of-dunjia-the/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/07/men-in-black-ancient-asia-style-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-3531521634662840193Thu, 12 Jul 2018 11:18:00 +00002018-07-12T07:18:50.060-04:00coney islandfilm reviewjuno templejustin timberlakekate winsletmobsterswonder wheelwoody allenWinslet Goes Round and Round In Stilted 'Wonder Wheel'<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cpcq3nQV6mg/W0c3r225SeI/AAAAAAAAEag/21gtkv81zi87fs08I_I3mKY3BAHmm5ekwCLcBGAs/s1600/wonderwheel1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cpcq3nQV6mg/W0c3r225SeI/AAAAAAAAEag/21gtkv81zi87fs08I_I3mKY3BAHmm5ekwCLcBGAs/s1600/wonderwheel1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Woody Allen; <I>Runtime:</i> 101 minutes <BR><B>Grade: D</b><BR><BR>Making movies since the mid-'60s, Woody Allen has released a theatrical feature every single year since 1982, and the diversity of his constant output of work -- spanning from gleefully satirical comedies to dark social thrillers -- varies about as much as the quality of it all, with some deemed worthy of awards and others barely worth remembering. Naturally, this also leads to a cluster of films that exists somewhere in between, seeming like lesser versions or companion pieces to his better productions, some which build under-the-radar followings; the whimsy of <I>Midnight in Paris</i> swirls in the cheeky con-woman mystery of <I>Magic in the Moonlight</i>, the relationship tension of <I>Match Point</i> echoes in the lighter sleuthing caper <I>Scoop</i>, and so on. One could hope that <I>Wonder Wheel</i> might function as a fluffier Coney Island-themed return to some of Allen's prior ideas, from failing marriages and emotionally abusive husbands to secret relationships. Unfortunately, the vintage atmosphere and Kate Winslet's best efforts aren't enough to make this unmerry flop go ‘round. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Winslet plays Jenny, an ex-actress turned waitress at an oyster joint on the boardwalk in the 1950s. She's stuck in an unsatisfying marriage with a recovering -- and reluctant -- alcoholic, Humpty (Jim Belushi), who spends his days working a carousel and fishing with his buddies, all while trying to keep her pyromaniac young son from setting fires across the city. Her unhappiness grows further complicated upon the arrival of Humpty's daughter from a previous marriage, Carolina (Juno Temple), who herself has fled from her gangster husband in hopes of starting over in Coney Island. Told from the perspective of a local playwright making ends meet as a lifeguard (Justin Timberlake), who also becomes entangled in their story, <I>Wonder Wheel</i> focuses on Jenny's shackled desire for something more out of her life … as well as the ways in which she pursues satisfaction elsewhere while coping with her problems at home. <BR><BR>Out of the gate, Justin Timberlake's lifeguard character announces that his retelling of the story at-hand will occasionally have moments of embellishment and melodrama befitting his writerly persona, and he isn't exaggerating. Under the vibrantly-hued, sun-drenched veneer of ‘50s Coney Island, Woody Allen telegraphs <I>Wonder Wheel</i> very much like a stage production, but one that's more interested in the theatricality of the period drama than conveying the sincerity of the characters' struggles. Proclamations about internal feelings are overly candid and specific in the vein of Allen's more verbose lyricisms, only in greater volume and weighed down by awkwardness in trying to fit with the era. Exposition suffers even more: so much of it centers on weathered people reminiscing about the experiences of their past and justifying how they reached the present circumstances, becoming repetitious with talks about Humpty's drinking and Carolina's future ambitions after her failed marriage to a known gangster. While it reads and sounds like Allen's work, it lacks the same kind of emotional nuance and resonance. <BR><BR>There's a saying about the movies that suggests a skilled director and the right actors can turn a lackluster screenplay into something worthwhile, but <I>Wonder Wheel</i> ends up being an example to the contrary. From Justin Timberlake's fourth-wall focused narration to Juno Temple's sympathetic songbird and Jim Belushi's oafish ex-drunkard, there's plenty of talent here that gets weighed down by Allen's dull rendering of archetypical characters, each of whom possess simple and recognizable histories in service of the broader story forming around Jenny. Kate Winslet comes close to salvaging depth from Allen's grand design: her character's frustrations with the status quo of her waitressing job, with her husband's attitude and estranged daughter, and with her burgeoning affair with another man add depth to her wistful recollections of her acting career. Even with Winslet's reliable solemn candidness working overtime, Jenny still doesn't come across as a completely genuine person, hampered by odd decisions and fumbling Allen's overly eccentric dialogue. <BR><BR>There are moments where Woody Allen's talent comes out of the woodwork for <I>Wonder Wheel</i>, such as when radiant sunlight pools on the characters mid-conversation or when the things that go unsaid in a phonecall have bigger implications than what's said, spotlighting complex emotion and tension. Ultimately, this is a portrait of Jenny's changeover from growing exasperation with her situation to intense paranoia and doubting of her self-worth, leaving none of the characters in a likable state by the time an abrupt and unsatisfyingly pessimistic ending twists them in traumatic directions. Woody Allen's efforts start to appear more focused on deliberately and systematically tormenting its oyster-serving heroine than exploring her strength as a woman being pulled in many directions by her obligations and emotions, and no amount of photogenic transportation to Coney Island's heyday can offset its lopsided misfortunes. <I>Wonder Wheel</i> ends up both light on substance and heavy in tone, serving up a subpar retread of ideas whose meager successes prop up Woody Allen's superior musings in prior films. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/73029/wonder-wheel/n">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/07/winslet-goes-round-and-round-in-stilted.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-8160203888868516638Thu, 03 May 2018 19:38:00 +00002018-05-03T15:38:50.766-04:00batmandcaudeadshotdetective comicsfilm reviewharley quinnkiller frostsuicide squadsuicide squad hell to paytask force xSuicide Squad Gets Violent, Virtuous in Zany 'Hell to Pay'<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qL8LzcdaQ-4/WutjCqPCSUI/AAAAAAAAEZg/eEXwsHTHbPc0jhJt7HSy_SluAB-2mS75wCLcBGAs/s1600/sshtp1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qL8LzcdaQ-4/WutjCqPCSUI/AAAAAAAAEZg/eEXwsHTHbPc0jhJt7HSy_SluAB-2mS75wCLcBGAs/s1600/sshtp1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Sam Liu; <I>Runtime: </i>86 minutes <BR><B>Grade: B-</b><BR><BR>Despite the rising enthusiasm toward both the group's first standalone movie and the appearance of fan-favorite Harley Quinn on the big screen, the Suicide Squad hasn't had an easy time of it over the past couple of years, certainly not enjoying the spike in popularity DC expected out of ‘em. The relative success of the animated film <I>Batman: Assault on Arkham</i> seemed to bode well for a live-action take on Task Force X, the government group that tosses low-ball, incarcerated villains from the DC universe into dangerous missions, so that they can shave off a few years from their sentence. After the tepid reception to David Ayer's clunky and awkwardly-toned <I>Suicide Squad</i>, however, interest has settled back down, leaving any future takes on the group with an uphill battle against the impressions left by that film. The chaotic and gleefully violent new entry into the DCAU, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, grasps both what the first animated film did right and where the live-action film faltered, relying on the wackiness of superpowers as a vehicle for suspense that swerves the squad back on the road to success. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>Those expecting a credible, grounded story may have come to the wrong place, though, as Hell to Pay relies on a very specific plot device to make the story work: a literal "Get Out of Hell Free" card. That's right, the now svelte Amanda Waller (Vanessa Williams) once again gathers together an … uh, eclectic crew of assassins, henchmen, and superpower-wielding baddies to hunt down a piece of paper that guarantees redemption in the afterlife. Predictably, the near-faultless marksman known as Deadshot (Christian Slater) takes up the mantle of leader as he oversees a group of familiar and not-so-familiar rogues on a hunt for the item; Harley Quinn (Tara Strong), Boomerang (Liam McIntyre), and Killer Frost (Kristin Bauer van Straten) return for this mission, while Bronze Tiger (Billy Brown) and Copperhead (Gideon Emery) add some new blood to the mix. Personalities and motivations clash as they discover who else is in search for the "Get Out of Hell Free" card, shifting from the current owner of the card -- a pro "dancer" named Steel Maxum -- to villains pursuing it who are both immortal and exist in alternate realities. <BR><BR>While <I>Assault on Arkham</i> transpired within the brilliantly established universe of the Batman: Arkham videogames, <I>Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay</i> doesn't latch onto enough distinguishing traits from its precursor to make it a "sequel", though it could serve as one if you squint hard enough. Instead. Director Sam Liu and his creative team have tailored the characters and atmosphere in such a way that it exists neither within the game universe nor that of DC's live-action realm, borrowing bits-‘n-pieces from both to make it an amalgamation that can now freely coexist with the DCAU proper. That means Harley Quinn sports the blonde pigtails with pastel-colored highlights and eyeshadow instead of her more jesterly look from <B><I>The</i> Animated Series</b> or the early-2010s Suicide Squad comics, while the entire cast gets new voice actors: Tara Strong returns to the role of Harley Quinn (whom she played in the games), while Christian Slater's distinctively raspy voice takes over for Neal McDonough as Deadshot. <I>Hell to Pay</i> aims for Task Force X to establish its own distinctive yet familiar presence in the DCAU, and for the most part, it hits that mark without any serious issues. <BR><BR>They're hunting for this "Get Out of Hell Free" card, which should hammer home a few things about the intentions and tone of <I>Hell to Pay</i>: that the deeper mystical elements of DC's universe are brought to the surface as realistic concerns here, and that one shouldn't take the story's moving parts too seriously. Why this device has been made into a card, whether it actually functions as advertised, and why everyone seems to trust in its powers probably shouldn't be dwelled upon too much, as it's just like almost any other plot device engineered for Task Force X to fetch … not unlike in recent runs of comics. Yet, the prospect of redemption promised by the card does reinforce a thematic element in the storytelling, since all of the villains -- both the antiheroes of the Suicide Squad and the baddies hunting down the card -- have done things that they'd like to have absolved when entering the afterlife. This results in a compelling air of uncertainty surrounding the entire group's decision-making, since they're all participating in this mission in exchange for time off their sentences, tapping into philosophy of sorts. <BR><BR><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ijd3rEnauww/Wuti-0r2W_I/AAAAAAAAEZc/ZmbfDF6k-n8vKGcpq5dwLRmItgUxsmWvQCLcBGAs/s1600/sshtp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ijd3rEnauww/Wuti-0r2W_I/AAAAAAAAEZc/ZmbfDF6k-n8vKGcpq5dwLRmItgUxsmWvQCLcBGAs/s1600/sshtp2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR>It's a little jarring to hear and get used to Christian Slater's instantly identifiable voice as Deadshot, but those watching will need to do so because, unsurprisingly, the character takes a commanding role in <I>Hell to Pay</i>. While he's voiced the character before, the charismatic smarminess that Slater brings to Floyd Lawton dials his attitude up a few too many notches, skewing too roguish and not polished or professional enough to befit the assassin. After a little time with him, however, this tweaked Deadshot become entertaining as he navigates the rest of this iteration of the Suicide Squad, butting heads with the insistently non-lethal and stoic Bronze Tiger and the routine brashness of Boomerang; oddly, Slater's more sarcastic performance as Deadshot cuts into his rapport with the Aussie renegade, usually the one who's rough around the edges. Beyond Deadshot, <I>Hell to Pay</i> spreads its attention fairly evenly this time among the rest of the Suicide Squad, even minimizing Harley Quinn's participation to mostly one-liners and actions just about anyone else could've executed. Harley's taken a backseat as a less integral character this time around … and with how much exposure she's recently received, that's perfectly fine. <BR><BR>These exchanges between characters are critical, since the action-movie plotting executed by DC animation vet Alan Burnett (<I>Mask of the Phantasm</i>) relies on the standard, obligatory moving parts involved with pursuing an item that doesn't pose an immediate threat. Burnett and director Sam Liu get this, though, becoming clear in the outlandish violence and insistent dark humor splattered throughout the film, which really doesn't need much more than searching for a MacGuffin-like item to keep it all glued together. Instead, the motivations for villains of all stripes to acquire this card becomes the narrative thrust to <I>Hell to Pay</i>, which draws in quite a few interesting entities from many corners of the DC universe, most of which I'm going to avoid spoiling; however, it's hard not to mention how the presence of a new, zany iteration of Doctor Fate factors into the events, which works alongside Alan Burnett's amusing yet still dark and introspective scripting. The splattering of blood, violent rhetoric, and the brand's willingness to kill people off earns its R-rating through smartly orchestrated confrontations, but not offensively so and not without being tethered to reasonable interactions and reactions between villains as people. <BR><BR>The live-action Suicide Squad movie lowered the bar for future movies about the group, so claiming that this one's better than David Ayer's stab at Task Force X isn't saying much. Thing is, <I>Hell to Pay</i> actually feels like one of the chaotic plots jumped off the comic-book pages, besting DC's prior live-action attempt with more organic and humorous dialogue, a willingness to go all-out with violence where necessary, and a firm grip on the antiheroes as clashing ex-villains who may not bond after all's said and done. Whether it's on the same level of <I>Assault on Arkham</i> is something else altogether; however, when stepping back and looking at the big picture, both end up doing about the same amount right and wrong amid the action. Despite not being entirely connected to this second animated film, <I>Assault on Arkham</i> succeeded with established world-building around Task Force X and injecting brazen humor into dark conditions. <I>Hell to Pay</i> doesn't abide by the same rules or engage in that caliber of world-building, but it has a bloody blast in getting the conflicted morality and camaraderie between its team members right. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/72987/suicide-squad-hell-to-pay/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/05/suicide-squad-gets-violent-virtuous-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-8087337729154896521Thu, 03 May 2018 18:09:00 +00002018-05-03T14:09:07.573-04:00film reviewjaume collet-serraliam neesonnew yorknon-stoppublic transitthe commuterthrillertrainunknown'The Commuter' a Wobbly Thrillride Regardless of Neeson<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KG-WOSiXQgc/WutNfsU1sOI/AAAAAAAAEZM/1k9NwXp3uOku9s1Ax-13lkt19TsN2eGdACLcBGAs/s1600/commuter1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KG-WOSiXQgc/WutNfsU1sOI/AAAAAAAAEZM/1k9NwXp3uOku9s1Ax-13lkt19TsN2eGdACLcBGAs/s1600/commuter1.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra</i>; <I>Runtime:</i> 105 minutes <BR><B>Grade: C</b><BR><BR>It's been about a decade now since Lian Neeson enjoyed a rebooting of sorts for his career, in which he took on the grizzled, quietly trained yet semi-retired persona of Bryan Mills, whose "particular set of skills" as an ex-CIA officer helped him locate foreign human traffickers who took his daughter. Since, he's unabashedly shaped his career around variations -- some subtle, others significant -- of this specific character type, especially under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra, who sent him on an automobile chase in <I>Unknown</i> and on a plane in <I>Non-Stop</i>. What's left out of that equation? Putting Neeson's revamped hero persona on a train, of course, which the director has done with <I>The Commuter</i>, taking place almost entire between several cabins barreling down New York's public transit line on a pretty average day. Fatigue may be starting to set in with Neeson's repetition of similar heroic performances, but that isn't the only spot where Collet-Serra's oddly convoluted thriller flies off the rails. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>This time, Neeson plays an ex-police detective, Michael MacCauley, who has transitioned to selling life insurance for something more safe and secure for his wife and college-bound son. Whole on the train ride home after a particularly tough day, complicated by emergent financial problems, MacCauley gets approached by a woman (Vera Farmiga) who strikes up a casual conversation about the social aspects of observation. What begins as a playful "experiment" between them evolves into the mysterious woman -- not a regular commuter on that particular ride -- offering MacCauley $100,000 to use his deduction and make a vague decision about the fate of one of the passengers, after the ex-detective to figure out who's the "right" passenger: the one who doesn't belong there. Moral uncertainty makes MacCauley second guess whether to do it, which leads the blond woman forcing his hand, creating a mystery for him to decipher and decisions to make about what to do … and who's trustworthy on the train. <BR><BR>Jaume Collet-Serra kept his previous Liam Neeson vehicles from dealing with too many of the symptoms of "been there, done that", but <I>The Commuter</i> doesn't pick up the speed to get this done, never fully getting away from the sensation that it's "<I>Non-Stop</i> On a Train" with the secrecy built around the ex-detective. There's a spark of novelty in the editing and structure of the film's beginning, showing the repetition and monotony of time passing in relation to MacCauley's daily train rides and the people with whom he interacts, underscored by his banter with the always-reliable Johnathan Banks. The ways MacCauley adjusts to the situation created by the woman's proposal fall into those of an active member of law enforcement, the only difference being that the ex-detective's morals and financial desperation could, in theory, sway his decision-making. Collet-Serra squeezes genuineness into how details are indirectly revealed about MacCauley's life instead of through point-blank exposition, but regardless of those efforts, it's just camouflaging another trapped, trained pro sleuthing through confined transit cabins. <BR><BR>The key difference separating <I>The Commuter</i> from some of Neeson's other action-thriller endeavors lies in the moral dilemma posed to MacCauley, in which he's given the opportunity to locate the right person on the train using his particular set of skills and receive a hefty payday for his efforts. Along with some Hitchcockian vibes, it's an echo of the thought-exercise presented by Richard Matheson in his short story "Button, Button", only instead of the ex-detective pushing a button to kill a stranger in exchange for money, he'd need to do some footwork in choosing the right stranger and marking them for un undisclosed fate; the assumption, naturally, is that the selected person would wind up dead. The creativity involved with breaking down and restructuring this premise around the ex-detective gets overridden by the nonsensical moving parts of the scenario, engineering an elaborate scheme so that Vera Farmiga's character and her employers remain hands-off from responsibility. They have a firmer grasp on who their target is than MacCauley, so making him jump through the hoops -- instead of just hiring a hitman -- appears intentionally contrived. <BR><BR>Can Liam Neeson save the day in <I>The Commuter</i>, both literally and figuratively? Not with quite the energy and physicality from a few years back, but he still brings enough of his statuesque and weatherworn appeal to MacCauley to enjoy that aspect of the ride, adding sturdiness to a handful of obligatory hand-to-hand brawls and moments of peril built around him staying on the train. The script relies on a mosaic of characters to reinforce the suspense of the ex-detective's sleuthing, though, where the passengers must have some identifiability and/or suspiciousness, and that's what proves to be a challenge for first-time screenwriters Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi. They leave it to the variety of commuters to cope with the cumbersome exposition from which Neeson was (mostly) spared, from a mistreated girlfriend defending her boneheaded man to an obnoxious upper-crust stock broker and a twitchy musician, and the script's halfhearted attempt at a community bond between the everyday commuters gets derailed by the overtness of the outsiders, clearly pawns in a mystery. <BR><BR>Despite the messiness of the premise, there's still a streak of curiosity behind who the chosen passenger will be and why they've got a target on their back, which <I>The Commuter</i> does eventually reveal in its chaotic final act full of anticipated action-movie bluster involving high-speed trains. Too many short-lived red herrings and certain unconvincing moments in the performances leave the plot without many interesting directions it could take, and the revelations about the intended target of MacCauley's moral dilemma are as convoluted as they are clumsily tied to contemporary issues involving mistrust in law enforcement. Fact of the matter is, Neeson still knows how to entertain an audience while embodying this type of older, seasoned badass persona that he's discovered late in his career, and while <I>The Commuter</i> doesn't reach the same heights as his other collaborations with Jaume Collet-Serra, it's still worth sticking it out until the end of the line to see how this version of his archetype attempts to pull this thing back on track. <BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/72999/commuter-the/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/05/the-commuter-wobbly-thrillride.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-814471480512024427Thu, 03 May 2018 17:02:00 +00002018-05-03T13:58:26.540-04:00animationbrothers grimmfablefantasyfilm reviewgirl without hands'Girl Without Hands' Struggles to Balance Beauty, Bleakness<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rJZkOrjP3lM/Wus6Ky7UjjI/AAAAAAAAEY8/ZmeY5fX4QZ4Oah_UB_SsiN7728dUCwmYwCLcBGAs/s1600/gwoh.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rJZkOrjP3lM/Wus6Ky7UjjI/AAAAAAAAEY8/ZmeY5fX4QZ4Oah_UB_SsiN7728dUCwmYwCLcBGAs/s1600/gwoh.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Sebastien Laudenbach; <I>Runtime</i> 76 minutes <BR><B>Grade: B-</b><BR><BR>The stories gathered together and retold by the Brothers Grimm have a reputation for being dark, but also timeless with the moral themes that they convey, often centered around greed, deceit, and the dangers of trusting strangers. Whether it's because Disney never got around to adapting the story or because the premise itself begins on such a sad note, <I>The Girl Without Hands</i> remains one of the lesser-known fairytales curated by the Brothers Grimm, despite being an explicit concentration of those ideas popularized in their other works. Perhaps that sort of story -- hinged on a swindled father, a desire for wealth, and a daughter who's forced to become handicapped as a result -- needs a more conceptual or avant-garde approach to visualize its almost-pessimistic grimness. French artist Sebastien Laudenbach catered to this idea with panel upon panel of meticulous hand-drawn animation, bringing to life <I>The Girl Without Hands</i> within a largely faithful, quietly lyrical and beautifully austere flow of artistry. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>A single-child milling family lives near a stream, one which has experienced a decrease in flow and resulted in a lack of prosperity for the family. The child, a young girl, happily plays in the backyard of their home, frequently climbing the tree and cleansing herself in the meager water available. One day, the miller encounters a peculiar merchant in the wilderness who senses his plight, and thus proposes an offer to the ailing father: that if he hands over what's in his backyard, he'll be blessed with riches for the remainder of his life. Assuming the man was talking about the tree in his backyard, the miller agrees; however, unbeknownst to him, the agreement was actually referring to his young daughter. Circumstances of their agreement shift over the years as she grew into a woman, and the only way that this man -- now appearing to be a devil, if not <I>the devil</i> -- would accept the daughter is if her hands were cut off. Thus, the story follows her life after she loses her hands, impacting her family and future relationships. <BR><BR>Reminiscent of some of the sparser and less-detailed artistry found within the watercolor-like visuals from <I>The Tale of the Princess Kaguya</i>, Sebastien Laudenbach leaves open spaces on his canvas in creation of the atmosphere surrounding the miller's home and beyond. Laudenbach takes that aesthetic a step further, allowing broad, sometimes harsh brushstrokes and an absence of shading inside both faces and buildings to sway the film's ethereal presence between realism and other-worldliness, amplified by erratic jitters and in-and-out vanishing of facial features. There's very little dialogue in general, only used when necessary for story lucidity, but the silent opening allows those watching to purely absorb the craftsmanship orchestrated by Laudenbach and become submerged in his desired aesthetic, one of ethnic and chronological ambiguity. Every frame expresses a lot without needing dialogue; each freeform image, as cliche as it may sound, could be hung in a gallery and absorbed on standalone merits. <BR><BR><I>The Girl Without Hands</i> is an inherently fickle tale, though, in which the demands of this devilish spirit are dictated by the story's commitment to chop off the girl's hands, twisting mysticism and purity of spirit in multiple directions for bleak purposes. Even knowing about the heart of the premise and the darkness that often follows the tales of the Brothers Grimm, the decisions made by the father and the plight of the daughter turn darker than expected, approaching the grim reflections and purposeful nihilism one might find in, say, one of Robert Bresson's moral fables. At times, especially when it comes to his perception of cleanliness, the capricious moving parts of the devil's demands make frustratingly little sense and aren't helped by the tale's disinterest in clarifying them; those watching must chalk up the demon's aversion to purity as a facet of his tastes, despite how infatuated he is with corrupting the miller's family. The magical aspects don't really follow any rules and obscure the devil's true desires, which hurts the film's well-paced transition into a portrait of the handicapped girl adjusting to her new normal. <BR><BR>Through the daughter's story of survival, discovering love, and the miracles of motherhood, <I>The Girl Without Hands</i> pours an assortment of emotional themes into its journey, though Sebastien Laudenbach spares his audience from the religious overtones of the Brothers Grimm's telling. By doing so -- and by being somewhat vague about whether it's a devil or <B>The Devil™</b> pulling the strings -- Laudenbach allows the story's thematic intentions about wealth, negligence, and deception to flow through the mesmerizing artwork, tweaking its intentions for a message more easily embraced on a broader scale. There's bravery in how dishearteningly this animated film depicts the nature of temptation, but also insightfulness in how it cascades into the daughter's perception of offerings from strangers and how the purity of her resistance can see its rewards. Regardless of the despair, however, <I>The Girl Without Hands</i> continues to discover striking and mesmerizing beauty, both visual and emotional, in the darkest moments of her despondent journeys through a world very much befitting a Grimm fairytale.<BR><BR><I>For the full Blu-ray review, head over to DVDTalk.com: [<a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/72992/girl-without-hands-the/">Click Here</a>]</i></span> http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/05/girl-without-hands-struggles-to-balance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7545669323046916596.post-1109811395992175712Sat, 31 Mar 2018 04:30:00 +00002018-11-15T18:25:07.070-05:00alicia vikanderangelina jokiebown and arrowfilm reviewjapaneselara croftrebootspelunkingsurvivaltomb raiderVikander Hits the Mark as a Grittier, Unseasoned 'Tomb Raider'<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nEr0-j5aCDs/Wr8MurUwAKI/AAAAAAAAEX8/AtlBsKQ7tU0yHrREHdJvIfLXluOlY0qIgCLcBGAs/s1600/tr2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nEr0-j5aCDs/Wr8MurUwAKI/AAAAAAAAEX8/AtlBsKQ7tU0yHrREHdJvIfLXluOlY0qIgCLcBGAs/s1600/tr2018.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="300" /></a><BR><BR><I>Directed by:</i> Roar Uthaug; <I>Runtime:</i> 118 minutes <BR><B>Grade: B</b><BR><BR>Roar Uthaug's <I>Tomb Raider</i> marks the first time that a videogame property has been given a second, non-sequel chance at leaving its mark on the Hollwood scene, though gamers who have stuck with Lara Croft over the years may be quick to point out that this is a dramatically different version of the character. The iconic heroine received a successful reboot-slash-prequel in the gaming realm roughly half a decade ago, and while that version of Croft exhibits similar gusto, smarts, and fondness for archaeology, she's also leaner and greener as she develops the survival skills that'll shape her into a formidable explorer. So, it isn't unreasonable to argue that she's close to an entirely different Lara Croft … and since this adaptation works from the narrative of the rebooted game, it's an entirely different adaptation than the Angelina Jolie vehicle several years back. Both share one key puzzle piece in common, though: the lead actress' embodiment of the heroine ends up being the strongest element of <I>Tomb Raider</i>, though the movie exploding and crumbling around Alicia Vikander's sturdy portrayal is marginally more substantial. <BR><BR><span id=fullpost>From the start, it's clear that screenwriter Geneva Robertson-Dworet and her team have watched the first <I>Tomb Raider</i> film and used it for reference, but more as a map of how to create almost the opposite kind of Lara Croft than that of the original. Instead of portraying her as an unabashedly wealthy heiress who's almost invincibly trained and prepared for what's thrown at her, we see this Lara Croft (Vikander) getting taken down in sparring martial-arts matches, crashing her bicycle while zipping around downtown London, and doing whatever she can to make enough money to survive. It's a far cry from the woman who trains with her own personal killer robot, in a inhouse Egyptian tomb, and bounces around on suspension cables in the middle of her mansion for recreation. This Lara Croft isn't the hero made of fantasy, but someone who's trying to built herself into a genuine sort of heroine in the willful absence of her family and their wealth, driven by the disappearance of her father seven years prior. <BR><BR> With a strong English accent complimenting her dialogue, Alicia Vikander adds high-caliber authenticity to Lara Croft, giving her a slim yet durable presence while she grapples with the burdens of essentially being an orphaned member of an illustrious family. Much like other videogame adaptations, there isn't a rush to get to the main action at the beginning and there's plenty of room to bulk up the story's depth and characterization, and this <I>Tomb Raider</i> uses the time to explore a more genuine take on Lara Croft's perceptions of her lineage and her adventure-seeking capabilities. Granted, sure, there's a bit of "<I>Tomb Raider Begins</i>" tonality going on during training sessions, boardroom conversations with her guardian, Anna Miller (Kristen Scott Thomas), and hazy flashbacks to conversations with her father as their family's mansion stands in the background. Vikander's spunkiness while bringing to life Lara Croft's drive to improve herself elevates this expansion of the mythos unseen in the game, tapping into strength and determination that yields an admirable heroine without exaggerating the "girl power!" aspect of it. <BR><BR><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uXBYn5crKm4/Wr8NBepjSGI/AAAAAAAAEYA/3FmLqCLeyH0-iEWbMHzg15K7TplbPPjagCLcBGAs/s1600/tr2018-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uXBYn5crKm4/Wr8NBepjSGI/AAAAAAAAEYA/3FmLqCLeyH0-iEWbMHzg15K7TplbPPjagCLcBGAs/s1600/tr2018-2.jpg" data-original-width="500" data-original-height="302" /></a><BR><BR>The bond with her father serves as a meaningful emotive backbone to how Lara Croft gets whisked into the adventure of <I>Tomb Raider</i>, which forces her to an uninhabited island near Japan, a location tied to mythology and to her father's mysterious professional endeavors. A natural progression of events get her onto a ship and into the company of its captain, Lu Ren (Daniel Wu), testing her wherewithal and acquired skills every step of the way without simply dropping anything in her lap, with Roar Uthaug's conscientious direction lending weight to the beginning of her journey. Once they're in proximity of the island, blockbuster storytelling does put the film on autopilit as Lara finds herself at odds with Mathias Vogel, the wiry leader of an excavation with similar interests to her father's business. Despite Walter Goggins' phenomenal ability to combine intense villainy with little flickers of sympathy for his sacrifices, the moving pieces of his plan and his treatment of Lara fit snugly into the template of a cat-and-mouse chase on an island ... which, admittedly, do echo the broad strokes of the game's overarching plot. <BR><BR> There were some early concerns about the authenticity of the action in <I>Tomb Raider</i> based on the key theatrical trailer, which features Lara lunging over a waterfall from the rusted wing of an airplane to its body, a scene that's more than a stretch due to weight and gravity. Perhaps it's because of an exaggerated memory of the scene in my head, but that bit -- while still there -- seemed to have been edited down to make it more credible, an impression that many of the action sequences gave off. Some ludicrousness still hangs in the air during the film, especially involving all the drama manufactured with missed assault-rifle shots and a particular scene involving a parachute, but Roar Uthaug seems have reined in a lot of potential outlandishness in boat crashes, bow-‘n-arrow kills, and hand-to-hand combat pitting Lara against larger, formidable opponents. He also ensured that Lara never completely becomes that kind of full-throttle action hero, either, coupling Alicia Vikander's aware, roughed-up performance with pushing the character's tolerance level for violence and high-stakes events further and further. <BR><BR>Along with polishing this iteration of Lara Croft into the future jewel for a franchise, the plotting in <I>Tomb Raider</i>, while far from spectacular, gets the job done in a very critical area involving the character: she actually gets to raid a tomb, scaling complicated walls and solving puzzles largely on her own accord. Deep into his take, director Uthaug finds a way of encapsulating the experience of playing the title game and projects it on the big screen, a claim that most videogame adaptations cannot make. Throughout the climax, realism and the supernatural weave together with the expectations and mystery involved with Lara Croft conquering sections of one of her tombs, and while brief, there's a stretch where she's completely alone and working her way through surviving harrowing challenges. While <I>Tomb Raider</i> absolutely could've been both more daring and rational with its storytelling, it's there that this second shot at Lara Croft hits the bullseye in getting the spirit of the character right and utilizing her experiences and obstacles to chisel out a worthwhile heroine, one who'll hopefully rise up for another adventure. <BR><BR><I>Film review also appeared over at DVDTalk.com: [<a href="http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/03/vikander-hits-mark-as-grittier.html"><B>Click Here</b></a>]</i></span>http://www.thomasspurlin.com/2018/03/vikander-hits-mark-as-grittier.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Spurlin)0